Waiting with Hope
by SourGrapes101
Summary: When Hinata accidentally discovers the day that Naruto is due to return from his long journey with Jiraiya, she decides to wait for him at the gates of Konoha. Just how much will this one act change things between herself and the one she loves?
1. He's Coming Home

**Waiting with Hope**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Naruto franchise, nor do I own any of the merchandise or spin-offs connected to the concept. These belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Summary: **When Hinata accidentally discovers the day that Naruto is due to return from his long journey with Jiraiya, she decides to wait for him at the gates of Konoha. Just how much will this one act change things between herself and the one she loves?

Chapter One: He's Coming Home

As the morning sunlight broke through the window of Hinata's bedroom and began to subtly creep up her body and onto her face, the Hyuuga girl began to stir, her eyes clenching shut as she tried to hold onto the dream she had been having. A faintly mumbled, "Naruto-kun…" escaped from her lips before her eyes fluttered open.

As she shifted herself into a sitting position, Hinata couldn't help but blush as she thought of the object of her night-time musings and almost subconsciously she let out a dreamy sigh. It wasn't just her face that was feeling particularly hot at that moment – her entire body was feeling like a fire had been lit inside her. The thought of _who_ exactly had ignited that fire and how he had done it in her dream made her blush even harder.

Uzumaki Naruto.

She may not have seen him for two-and-a-half years now, but his face from just before he had left his village, left his home, left _her,_ was still as crystal clear in her mind as the day he had departed. His spiky blonde hair that she secretly longed to run her fingers through. His huge, encouraging grin that seemed almost too large for his face, making his eyes squint. His bright orange jumpsuit that just screamed out, 'Notice me!' to everyone that he passed. And his eyes… oh Kami, she could gaze breathlessly into his eyes forever… they were a combination of all the different hues of blue in the world, from the aquamarine of a sparkling ocean to the deep indigo of a dusky sky. They were so _expressive, _she felt like she was staring into Naruto's soul when she mustered up the courage to look at him face to face. And the way that his blue orbs sparkled as he talked, even about the most inane subject, made Hinata's heart melt. In her opinion, the legendary Byakugan that her clan possessed wasn't even comparable to Naruto's eyes. They may have held a well protected kekkei genkai that granted amazing powers of perception and vision to its owner, but Hinata thought that they paled in comparison to the radiant eyes of the one she cared for most.

But the thing she loved most about him was his determination. She didn't think it was an exaggeration to say that it was his unwavering perseverance and the effort he put into everything he did that was the biggest influence in her life. When she had been back in the Academy she remembered watching Naruto train, all alone, for hours on end, striving to become a real ninja and hone his skills, and she had felt truly inspired by the example he was setting. From that moment on, she had resolved to try as hard as the loud-mouthed, hyperactive, ramen-loving boy that she watched, pitied, admired and… loved?

Hinata was districted by her morning musings by the muffled sliding sound of her shoji door opening and the appearance of her older cousin Neji's face peering at her.

"Good morning, Neji-niisan," Hinata greeted him, lifting herself up from the traditional futon she had been sleeping on and standing.

"Good morning, Hinata-sama," Neji answered in a polite, respectful voice, inclining his head slightly. Despite his somewhat serious greeting, the small smile on his face indicated that he was genuinely pleased to see her. That was another thing that she had Naruto to thank for – giving her cousin back to her. After his father's death, Neji had become cold and withdrawn to everyone, holding a burning grudge against the Hyuuga main family, and he had taken it out on her in brutal fashion in the Chuunin Exams, back when she had been twelve. But Naruto had changed him; no longer did Neji look at her with a cold anger that froze her chest in a grip of ice. He was still quiet and precise in both manner and speech, but the change was noticeable – gone were the bitter lectures about fate and being unable to change, replaced by the belief that he was in control of his own destiny. Hinata could still vividly remember the feeling of shock that she had felt when Neji had apologised – yes, actually _apologised _– for his actions towards her. Neji's newfound humble attitude was another welcome change and now he treated Hinata almost like a younger sister, rather than a cousin.

"Aren't you a little late getting up this morning, Hinata-sama?" Neji asked, quirking an eyebrow at her. The fact that she immediately blushed as he said this clued him in on the reason for her unusually late awakening this morning. He wasn't proclaimed as the Hyuuga genius for nothing, after all. "It wouldn't happen to be because you were daydreaming about a certain orange clad ninja, would it…?"

"N-N-Neji-niisan!" Hinata gasped, horrified at both the stutter in her voice and the fact that the feelings she had tried to hide for so long seemed to have been unearthed without any real effort on his part. Anxiously, she began prodding the tips of her two index fingers together, hoping he would drop the subject. "That is a v-very… _p-personal_ question to me!"

The smile on Neji's face seemed to grow ever so slightly at this answer. "You still miss him."

Hinata swallowed. It wasn't a question. "Y-Yes," she managed to stutter out, suddenly finding the wooden flooring of her bedroom very interesting.

Neji actually chuckled at that. "You know, as strange as it sounds, I think I might actually be missing him too. Konoha just hasn't been the same without him."

Hinata nodded, eyes downcast. She cared deeply for Neji, Kurenai-sensei, Kiba and Shino, and enjoyed her life as a Konoha shinobi, but her cousin was right – without Naruto around, a part of her just seemed to feel empty. The village itself seemed less vibrant and much quieter and she knew both Iruka-sensei and the Hokage were missing him too. Tsunade-sama had admitted her affection for loud-mouthed genin on numerous occasions and Iruka-sensei had always worried about Naruto, even before he had lrft the Academy.

Hinata knew she shouldn't worry about Naruto. She respected and admired his strength and knew he would have gotten even stronger from his extra training. He was in capable hands too – Jiraiya-sama was a highly skilled ninja and a member of the Sannin, after all. But still… it had been over two years since Naruto had left Konoha… surely he would come back soon?

Hinata had to content herself with one thought. _'When you do come back, Naruto-kun, I promise I will also be stronger. Because that's my nindo too.'_

-o-o-

Hinata made sure to keep her breathing under control, her Byakugan active and flashing in the dappled sunlight filtering through the canopy of the forest on the edge of the Hidden Leaf Village. Hearing a deep warning bark from Akamaru, she saw the undergrowth rustle, before a small, dark shape leapt out from the shadows. Avoiding the clutches of the nin-dog and the Inuzuka boy riding on its back, it made a desperate break for freedom, attempting to give its trackers the slip. However, before it could get far she noticed her teammate Shino falling like a soundless wraith from a thick branch of one of the taller trees, blocking the shadowy shape's path. With an angry hissing sound it changed direction once more, this time darting in Hinata's direction. She tensed herself, waiting for just the right opportunity to strike after her teammates had manoeuvred the target into position, then leapt forward in a burst of motion. Her hands grasped around short, warm fur as the target made a surprised yowling sound… and then promptly began licking her face, hands, and any other part of her body it could get to.

"It appears our mission objectives have been satisfactorily concluded," announced Shino in his usual precise tone, adjusting the dark glasses perched on the edge of the nose. "Now that we have Tora in our possession, it would be prudent to return her to her rightful owner and report back to Hokage-sama."

"What's the rush, Shino? It looks like Hinata's picked up a new little friend," sniggered Kiba, as the little cat tried to burrow its way into Hinata's soft grip, purring and stretching out as it did so, much to Hinata's embarrassment. The fact that it then proffered its belly to be stroked only made Kiba's laughter even louder and Hinata's embarrassment all the more acute.

Akamaru just growled. He did _not _like cats. Particularly this cat.

-o-o-

Tsunade groaned as Shizune entered her office for the third time that day, holding another giant stack of mission requests. She may have loved the village, and she took the role of protecting the villagers from any sort of harm seriously, but times like this made her wonder why on Earth she had given up a life of wandering and gambling for this. Then a picture of a loud, short-tempered blonde ninja flashed through her mind and she smiled. Yes, now she remembered. His passionate wish – no, _dream_ – to become Hokage had touched her and she knew that she would never forget it. No matter how tough things got for her, no matter how stressed she became as she tried to cope with endless mission requests with a force of ninja that was still depleted after the attack of Orochimaru and the Oto nin, she knew that it was her job to keep the will of fire that her old sensei Sarutobi had always been preaching about, and as long as she had any life in her body she would do that to the best of her abilities.

Not that she would feel too guilty having a sly drop of sake every now and again.

As Shizune dropped the pile of paperwork into Tsunade's now overflowing in box, a knock at the door was heard. Sitting up straighter in her large chair, the Godaime called out, "Enter," in a commanding voice. She had to keep up appearances, after all. In single file, Team Kurenai trooped into her office, presumably to give a quick spoken summary of the hunt for Tora she had sent them on earlier. In her opinion D-rank mission reports weren't even worth the paper they were written upon.

Shino cleared his throat. "Team Kurenai is ready to conduct a verbal assessment of our assigned mission, Hokage-sama. Is this acceptable to you?"

Tsunade waved a hand carelessly. "As long as it's brief, that should be perfectly in order. I presume there weren't any problems?"

Kiba snorted. "That damn cat must have led us across half the forest, but we got it in the end, right Akamaru?" The affirmative bark of the big dog was coupled with a wag of its tail, which had Shizune scrambling over the floor as it knocked over the mission requests that she had just brought in.

Tsunade brought her hands up to her temples, massaging them. Yeah, sake sounded really good right about now.

Hinata bent down to help the Hokage's personal assistant pick up all the loose paper, with Shizune's gratefully murmured, "Thank you," tingeing her cheeks a faint shade of pink. Shino just stared stoically at Kiba, who waved his hands defensively.

"Hey, hey, it wasn't my fault. Why aren't you staring like that at Akamaru instead of me?"

Shino just continued staring gravely at Kiba. Akamaru let out a small whine.

"Ok, fine, I'm sorry. Geez…"

Tsunade banged her fist down on the hard wooden surface of her desk, making everyone other than Shino jump. Tsunade frowned. She hadn't even hit it that hard, and it had still made a noticeable crack in the tabletop. At least she hadn't destroyed it – Shizune's constant nagging of how she seemed to go through desks at a rate of one per fortnight must finally be getting through to her. "If we can get back to the task at hand…" she trailed off, enjoying the nervous look on Kiba's face.

Shino inclined his head slowly and began succinctly talking through their mission, aided by frequent interjections from Kiba and the occasional, "Ano…" from Hinata. As he finished, Tsunade nodded, satisfied. "Thank you, Team Kurenai. That will be all for toda–"

She was about to dismiss them when there was an abrupt knock on the door of her office and Kamizuki Izumo, one of the Hidden Leaf's 'jack-of-all-trades' ninja assigned to guarding the Hokage's office, burst into the room.

"My apologies for interrupting, Hokage-sama, but we have some urgent news from the Decoding Department! We have received a message from Jiraiya-sama and have just finished translating it now." With that, he passed the Godaime a folded piece of paper, the ink still wet, as it had evidently been scrawled upon in great haste. Tsunade's eyes widened and she snatched it from him impatiently, barely noticing as the chuunin guard bowed and exited in a whirl of leaves. Any news about Naruto and the old pervert was good news… especially with the recent resurgence of Akatsuki activity in the last few months…

Hinata's eyes had widened at this sudden announcement, and her heartbeat sped up. As Tsunade's eyes skimmed from side to side, reading swiftly, the Hyuuga heiress held her breath. _'Urgent? But Jiraiya-sama was with Naruto-kun! … Please, please be ok…' _She could tell that Shino and Kiba were listening intently too, judging by the fact that the bug-user's posture had become even more rigid than usual and the Inuzuka had stopped fidgeting.

Then, without any warning, Tsunade let out a bark of laughter, which quickly became hysterical. She was guffawing so hard that she almost fell out of her chair, slumping onto her desk with tears of laughter in her eyes, much to the bemusement of everyone else in the room. Hinata wasn't sure whether to help her, to remain standing in wait or just to leave. Shizune, although worried about where the Hokage's sudden burst of amusement had come from, evidently surmised that the latter option was the best course of action to take, as she began ferrying her two teammates out of the room before they had a chance to protest. Hinata could see that she was about to be forced out the door in the same manner as her teammates, but, panicking, she interjected before Shizune could get a grip on her. She _had_ to know what was happening with Naruto. She couldn't bear not knowing whether he was in danger or not now that it had been dragged to the surface.

"Ano… Shizune-san. W-Would it be alright if I – if I waited to hear what Tsunade-sama was going to say about Naruto-kun?" The words left Hinata's mouth in a jumbled rush before she had even thought about what she was saying, and immediately she blushed. It was hardly her place to be asking about such things after all, and she felt very self-conscious as Shizune looked quizzically at her.

Before the Hokage's assistant had a chance to make a decision, however, Tsunade herself, now over her giggling fit and pulling herself upright behind her desk, just smiled at Hinata. "Let her listen if she wants, Shizune. This information is hardly confidential. Besides…" The Hokage paused for a second, and a mischievous glint, that reminded Hinata of Naruto at his pranking best, appeared in her eye. "It's obvious she cares about the brat."

Hinata's blush intensified at these words. Was there anyone in Konoha that _didn't _know about her infatuation with the self proclaimed number-one-hyperactive-knuckleheaded shinobi?

Shizune chuckled at Hinata's reaction, relenting. She had to admit that she was curious about what was written on the small slip of paper too, and the fact that this shy kunoichi genuinely cared about Naruto was touching. He may have had some acceptance before he left Konoha, mostly from his peers, but the presiding mood was still very much a negative one from the majority of villagers. Shizune was sure that he saw all of his friends as priceless, and the fact that one of his precious people seemed to value him as equally precious was something that she had no doubt Naruto fully deserved.

Tsunade cleared her throat, drawing the attention of the other two women in the room back to herself, as she began to smile again. "This is the first message I've received from Jiraiya now for almost half a year, but the news in it is excellent. Spectacular even! He and Naruto… are coming home!"

Shizune let out a delighted squeal at the news, and grabbed the piece of paper for confirmation. Hinata, on the other hand, completely froze, afraid that even breathing would destroy the perfect moment. _'Naruto-kun is safe… and he's coming home? He's coming back to me?'_

However, Hinata's worry returned as her treacherous mind brought up a new thought. _'But… will he even remember me? It's been so long since we last spoke… could he have forgotten about me?' _Hinata mentally shook herself, disappointed in her lack of faith towards the object of her affection. _'No. Naruto-kun is never cruel. I know he wouldn't forget his friends. And… he said he liked people like me. I have to have faith in him… because I know he would have faith in me!'_

Gathering her courage together, Hinata forced herself to ask one final question. "Ano…" she stammered, trying to compose herself but failing miserably. "W-When… when will N-Naruto-kun be back?"

Tsunade smiled at the girl's shyness and briefly wondered to what extent the girl's feelings for the boy that so resembled her long deceased younger brother, Nawaki, extended. "In three days time, according to Jiraiya's report." Tsunade's smile changed, becoming reminiscent. "And you know Naruto wouldn't go back on his word, right?"

"Yes…" Hinata breathed out, a determined look flashing across her face for an instant. She bowed in front of the Hokage. "Thank you, Hokage-sama, Shizune-san. I t-truly appreciate what you have d-done for me today."

The Hokage and Shizune both smiled kindly at her. "That is no problem at all, Hinata," said Tsunade, with her voice containing a hint of… affection? Pride? Whatever it was, it sounded almost… motherly. Hinata's own mother had died giving birth to her second child, Hanabi, when Hinata had been just five, and though her memories of her mother were faded by age, Hinata remembered above all else the loving, caring tone of voice she had always spoken to her only daughter in. Hearing Tsunade-sama speak in such a voice made her feel warm inside and wonder whether the Hokage ever regretted never settling down and having children. In Hinata's opinion, at least, she would have made a wonderful mother. And that thought led her back to the dream she'd had last night, where things had gotten rather… _intimate _between herself and Naruto. The thought of Naruto as a father was one that she couldn't help but wonder about… and just the thought of herself as the mother of Naruto's children made her feel lightheaded for a second. Blushing profusely, she stuttered a quick goodbye to the Hokage and her assistant and rushed out of the room, not noticing the amused expressions that both of them had on their faces. Well, at least until Shizune produced another stack of mission forms.

-o-o-

Hinata walked down the main street of Konoha in somewhat of a daze as she thought about all that had happened in the Hokage's office. She had almost bumped into at least four villagers already on her way back to the Hyuuga compound (though they stopped shouting at her once they saw her eyes; insulting a member of the most powerful clan in Konoha was never a good idea). She had stammered out apologies to those she had accidentally collided with, but truthfully her mind was elsewhere.

'_Naruto-kun is coming home.'_ That one thought kept whizzing around in her mind like a dynamo. She wondered how much he had improved during his training mission and thought back to the times she had seen him fight. Against Kiba in the preliminary round of the Chuunin Exam, he had been beaten, bruised and knocked down, but a combination of luck, skill, quick thinking and determination had turned the tables on her teammate in jaw dropping fashion. Then she remembered how he had fought for _her _– according to Kurenai-sensei and the rest of her team, sworn an oath on her _blood _– to defeat Neji. He had said that she wasn't weak, and that she had given him the confidence to defeat her cousin. That small act of Naruto saying that it had been _her _words, calling him a 'proud failure' that had reignited his determination to prove Neji wrong, had meant the world to her. Knowing that she had been able to help him, even a little, was something she treasured close to her heart, and she considered it the biggest achievement of her life. She would do her best no matter what to help Naruto even more when he came back, to follow his example, his –

"Ouch! Watch where you're going, missy!"

"S-Sorry, sir, I d-didn't mean to."

**Author's Notes: **Ok, after telling myself I would finally start writing some fanfiction, this chapter is the end result of my hard work. I really like the pairing of Naruto and Hinata, and there are a lot of fanfics out there, many of them very good, but there aren't very many really _great _fics for this pairing (that I've seen at least – if anyone has any recommendations, I'd be more than willing to have a look, if you'd be so kind as to leave a link). So I finally decided to get off my lazy ass and start writing myself! In my opinion, it's not fair to criticise the work of others unless you're willing to try and better it yourself! If anyone has found any flaws in this chapter or has questions, speculation, ideas or even just plain encouragement that they want to throw my way via a review, feel free. I don't want to be a 'review whore' though – if you don't want to, that's fine too. In regards to Hinata's character, I tried to show that she has become a little more confident (with the way that she questions Tsunade as an example of this) but is still essentially the same shy, kind Hinata that we all know. As for the humorous touches I tried to add in to the chapter, yes, I'm a sucker for comedy and I'm trying to stay true to the humorous nature of the manga/anime as much as possible (and that applies for future events in this story too – I'm going to be fairly loose for the most part in terms of following canon, but it will stay along the original guidelines, with the Akatsuki still hunting the various Bijuu, Naruto still wanting to bring home Sasuke, etc.). Oh, and if anyone wants to get in contact with me in regards to becoming a beta reader for me, that would be great – I haven't had one for this chapter (though I hope it didn't show), and having a second opinion on some things would be very helpful. Last but not least, a _shoji_ is a traditional Japanese sliding paper door and a _futon_ is the traditional style of Japanese bedding. Ok, I think that's everything I wanted to say, so I'll see you next chapter!


	2. Face to Face

Chapter Two: Face to Face

The pre-morning mist hung in the still air like a bride's veil, muffling what little sound there would be at this hour to nothing more than a murmur to Hinata's ears. The sun was just beginning to rise, casting a pale glow over the surrounding area, and combined with the quietness and the tendrils of mist condensating on Hinata's skin she felt like she was underwater. Brushing that thought away, she continued focusing on the wide, worn dirt path leading out of the village through the tall gates. She straightened out her back slightly, trying to find a more comfortable position against the tree she was leaning on, just out of sight of the guard post that the sentries manned, but still providing a clear view of the road into Konoha. Despite a combination of the earliness of the day and the nervousness she felt at Naruto's impending return preventing her from getting a wink of sleep that night, she didn't feel tired in the least. She had eventually given sleep up as a lost cause, and decided to go down to the gates to wait for Naruto. She knew it was far too early for him to still be travelling, but it was the only way she could quell the butterflies in her stomach. At very least it would also lessen one of her anxieties: namely, that she would have slept in and missed Naruto's entrance.

A gust of cold air blew past and Hinata shivered slightly, glad that the sun would soon be up. It was surprisingly cold and the mist was making her fringe stick to her forehead. She silently thanked the fact that she had taken a hot thermos of cocoa with her, and took a quick swig, enjoying the way that the sweet drink left a warm trail inside of her as she swallowed. To ward off the chill still further, she thought back to the visit she had made two days ago…

-o-o-

Despite Kiba and Shino both questioning what had happened in the Hokage's office after they had left, Hinata had made sure to only tell one person of Naruto's impending arrival and it was definitely the person she trusted most in the whole world, other than Naruto himself, of course; her jonin sensei, Yuuhi Kurenai. The genjutsu expert hadn't been well enough for active duty recently – she had been complaining of dehydration on the last mission she had been on – so Hinata had decided to pay a visit to her apartment two days ago, to see if she was feeling any better and tell her the good news. Kurenai had certainly looked ill when she had answered the door, with bags under her eyes and slightly untidy hair, but she had been pleased to see her favourite student come to give her company and ushered her in. Hinata noticed a faint, acidic smell lingering in the air and wondered if her sensei had been vomiting, but Kurenai had assured the young Hyuuga girl it was nothing serious and that she was hoping to return to active duty by the end of the week, after being given some time off missions by the Godaime to recuperate from her illness (hence her non-appearance the day before on the mission to capture Tora).

Relieved to hear that her sensei would soon be fully recovered, Hinata been unable to hold her tongue any longer and had told Kurenai the news of Naruto's imminent return in a breathless voice. The red eyed woman laughed at Hinata's obvious enthusiasm but had been genuinely happy for her and didn't fail to notice the way that her student's eyes lit up at just the mention of his name, as well as the way her cheeks pinked under the same circumstances. Though she knew of Naruto's reputation amongst the majority of villagers as an annoying prankster at best and a monstrous demon at worst, Kurenai wasn't quite so blinkered and in her opinion the influence he had on her only female student was certainly a good one in terms of work ethic and determination.

However, the conversation between teacher and pupil was interrupted by a knock on Kurenai's door and, as Kurenai-sensei was still not feeling particularly well, Hinata had gotten up and opened it for her. She didn't know who she had expected to see, but Team Ten's former sensei, Sarutobi Asuma, was certainly not on that list. He looked just as surprised as Hinata, his ever-present cigarette dangling loosely from his mouth, before Kurenai-sensei had asked who was there from her position in the living room, huddled up on the sofa covered in blankets. Hinata, blushed, as did Asuma, who ground out his cigarette and quickly entered, wiping his ninja sandals on the doormat as he did so. The fact that he went into Kurenai-sensei's living room without any direction from her tipped Hinata off that he had evidently visited before and after listening to Asuma and her sensei talk for a few minutes in a very familiar fashion the Hyuuga heiress came to the conclusion that the two must have been in some sort of a relationship. She was thinking of leaving, as she didn't want to intrude on their privacy, when the conversation shifted back to Kurenai's illness and Asuma immediately vowed to deliver her groceries whilst she was unwell. Kurenai's protests that she was well enough to do it herself had fallen on deaf ears, and were swiftly silenced by a kiss on her lips from the bearded man. Asuma had evidently forgotten that Hinata was in the room with them and the shy Hyuuga girl's muffled, _"Eep!"_ from behind her hands made him jump backwards from Kurenai, hastily walk to the door, promise to bring the groceries later that evening and bolt, his face almost as red as Hinata's.

After laughing, Kurenai had explained that, yes, she and Asuma were in a relationship, though he didn't feel particularly comfortable revealing it in public. Despite her embarrassment Hinata had stammered her congratulations, thrilled that her sensei had found someone precious to her that treated her so kindly. As Kurenai wistfully recounted some of the experiences she had shared with Asuma, Hinata wondered whether someday she would be able to reminisce about her memories of Naruto and their life together with her children, then blushed as she thought of the process of making those children with Naruto. _'Well, he does have good stamina…'_ Hinata's blush deepened.

As Kurenai paused for a moment to grab a box of tissues to blow her nose with, Hinata asked her sensei, in a hesitant voice, what her plans for the future were with Asuma. Kurenai looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged her shoulders. "I don't really know, Hinata. As shinobi of the Leaf, Asuma and I are fully aware of the risks we face and planning too far ahead is difficult when you don't know what the future holds."

"But do you not want to get married someday? Or have children?" Hinata asked, stutter forgotten. She felt absorbed by what they were discussing, though saddened by the fact that the ninja lifestyle that her sensei lived may negatively impact on some of the most important decisions in her life. Kurenai was like a mother figure to her and Hinata wanted her to have the happiness that she deserved. Could her sensei really choose to leave all hopes of one day settling down with a loving family aside to continue her career as a professional kunoichi?

Kurenai smiled, taking hold of Hinata's hands in her own. "Yes, some day I think I would like to. But Hinata," she chided gently, "You don't need to feel pressured by the choices I make. You are a capable kunoichi and a mature, independent young woman now. You know that Kiba, Shino and I would support you in any life changing decisions you make in the future, don't you?"

Hinata felt her eyes tear up at her sensei's kind words. She closed her eyes for a second, to prevent herself from crying, and jumped as she felt her Kurenai-sensei's strong arms envelope her in a soft hug. At this, she couldn't help let the tears flow and Kurenai's arms tightened around her, gently stroking her back with one hand. After what must have been a few minutes of this at least – Hinata had lost track of the time, cradled in the red eyed woman's arms – the long haired jonin finally released her. Hinata had felt like a little girl again in her sensei's embrace, but the safety and security she had felt had been a welcome relief from the highly stressful last few days. All the emotions associated with Naruto's immanent return – fear, joy, worry, hope – had left her feeling strained to her limits and the hug had reduced some of her emotional tension.

"I'm s-sorry, s-sensei," Hinata had choked out, her face stained with tears. "I didn't m-mean to l-lose c-control like that, b-but –"

"It's quite alright, Hinata," Kurenai interrupted firmly. "Now, let's get you cleaned up, hmm?"

With Kurenai's help, Hinata had run a sink of warm water for herself in the bathroom and washed her face free of the salty paths of her tears. The warm water revived her and Kurenai had then offered to brush her now dishevelled hair. Hinata felt very hesitant at first, not wanting to be a burden to her sensei, but the genjutsu mistress had refused to take no for an answer, taking a hairbrush out of a cabinet, guiding Hinata to sit at the dressing table in her bedroom and setting to work. Her sensei's tender ministrations were very relaxing, as she was taking great care to avoid hurting her when the hairbrush got caught in any lugs or tangles, and the remainder of Hinata's worries and fears just seemed to melt away – she felt like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders by the simple emotional and physical contact she had shared. After thanking Kurenai-sensei profusely, which prompted another hug, although without tears this time, Hinata had left her sensei's warm, cosy apartment, feeling very lucky to have people that cared about her so much and looking forward to Naruto's return more than ever.

-o-o-

It was mid-afternoon now and it seemed like a perfect day for Naruto's arrival, a far cry from the bone-chilling cold earlier that morning. The sun was now beaming down brightly, the birds in the trees were chirping merrily and the breeze in the air was gentle and soothing. Hinata could feel her anticipation rising once again, but tried to quell it, at least a little. She had already been disappointed on multiple occasions so far, when she had seen two distant figures, but as they had gotten nearer there was no distinctive grin. No stand-out orange jacket. No sun-kissed blonde hair. No Uzumaki Naruto.

Sighing, she took a bite out of the bento she had hastily packed in preparation for the wait. She didn't want to leave this spot for a moment, not even for something as insignificant as picking up some lunch. If she had planned ahead for waiting here she probably would have brought more with her – she hadn't had breakfast that morning before heading to the village gates to wait for Naruto and still felt rather hungry after finishing her small lunch. Ignoring her stomach, she focused back on the road for any tell-tale signs of the boy she was waiting for.

At times she had been tempted to use her Byakugan eyes to scout ahead, but dismissed the idea almost immediately. It seemed too much like cheating to her and she didn't doubt that Naruto would return that day with one iota of her being. She knew he would come back. He had promised. And she would wait for him, for as long as it took.

-o-o-

The evening sun was beginning to set, leaving blood red streaks across the sky. The sun itself was a vibrant ball of orange, casting long shadows over the road, which Hinata still watched intently over, patiently waiting for any sign of the boy she admired. A squirrel scurried past the Hyuuga girl and she smiled peacefully, giggling at the cute way that its little nose twitched and its bushy tail perked up. In some strange way the squirrel seemed to remind her of Naruto, particularly when it cocked its head inquisitively to the side as it sniffed the air… though that wasn't really saying much; everything reminded her of Naruto.

Hinata turned her back on the small woodland creature, focusing back on the road again, and her breath caught in her throat. Against the dying sunset two figures were walking purposefully and surely towards the village. She willed herself not to let herself get her hopes up only to be disappointed again, but as they got closer and closer the figures, although still blurred by the radiant sunset behind them, looked more and more like Naruto and his sensei with every passing minute. She still wasn't certain – the shorter one on the right, which must have been Naruto (if indeed it was him), was much taller than the boy she remembered leaving the village so long ago, but any remaining traces of doubt were obliterated by a single shout.

"Alright! We're finally home!"

Hinata gasped. The voice was deeper and richer than she remembered, but the childlike enthusiasm was unmistakeable. It could only be one person.

Before she even realised what she was doing, she stepped out from behind the tree and called out, "Naruto-kun!"

She hadn't even registered that she had spoken until the words had already slipped out. What was she thinking? She hadn't planned to actually come out and speak to Naruto, all she had wanted was to see him again after so long without him in her life. Just his physical presence was supposed to be enough for her, but her body had moved like it was a dream.

Hearin her voice, Naruto looked around for its owner, spotting Hinata standing beside a tree with the look of a startled animal about to bolt and a cherry red blush across her face. Naruto cocked his head to the side for a moment, in much the same manner the squirrel had, before his eyes lit up in recognition.

"Ne, Hinata, is that you?"

And Hinata knew, as she gazed up at him with wide, pearly eyes, that her dreams would have a new face in them that night.

**Author's Notes:** Ok, that's Chapter Two down! First things first, I'd like to say thank you to everyone that took the time to read this story. After posting the first chapter, I didn't have a chance to go online for a day. The day after that I went on my computer, opened my e-mail account and did a double take. I had TWENTY-FIVE e-mails about people reviewing, favouriting, or getting updates from this story. In the space of a single day. That is staggering, and that figure just kept going up! So thank you to all of you (especially helpful reviewers, and especially-especially reviewers that left NaruHina fanfic recommendations, I'll have to keep a look out. I've favourited some of the authors I particularly liked already). On to the chapter notes, this was quite difficult to write, as I tried to get a good balance between the emotional turmoil Hinata is going through at the moment, advancing the plot and building up the anticipation. Next chapter will finally see some interaction between Hinata and Naruto as well, so that should be coolio. In the future there will also be some major fight scenes, though I'm not absolutely certain about the sort of writing style that encapsulates the action best. Personally, I always prefer fights where specific detail is left as minimal as possible and the reader is left to visualise things for themselves, though that's not to say I'm just going to leave it vague and noncommittal, as that would just be stupid. Guess I'll just have to experiment a bit. Any comments would again be appreciated and I promise that I'll at least take them into account. Oh, and a _bento _is a take-away or home packed meal containing rice, meat and vegetables, stored in a small box. See you next time then, my faithful readers, bye!


	3. Friends, Foes and Ramen?

Chapter Three: Friends, Foes and Ramen?

As the last two shadowy, flickering figures merged into existence onto what looked like a giant stone hand, the meeting could finally begin. Even though only two of the people in the huge, shadowy cavern were physically present, the tension in the room could be cut with a kunai.

At first glance it would seem as though the people in the room had very little in common. They were all of very different ages, backgrounds and nationalities. None of them particularly liked each other. Some of them outright hated each other. But all of them respected each other.

They were the Akatsuki. Each of them had unimaginably powerful abilities and none of them were afraid use them. They were all at the top of their respected fields and feared throughout the ninja world. The idea of anyone standing in their way was laughable.

Their leader spoke first. "It is time to act. Our objective is the Ichibi. A pair will be sent to capture it."

The toneless, flat voice in which their leader spoke may have been seen as intimidating by some, but none of the Akatsuki members made any noticeable reaction.

"Hey Itachi, we should do it," Kisame's voice cut into the gloom. "Samehada and I have been dying for a good fight for a long time now, and we're getting –" a feral smile flashed across the shark-like man's face, showing his sharp, pointed teeth_ "– Hungry."_

Itachi didn't even look at his partner, his cold, dead eyes still. He shook his head in an almost imperceptible motion. The movement may have been slight, but the authority he exuded was clear. There would be no argument from Kisame.

"I'll do it then, yeah. I want to find out if this Ichibi is anything compared to my art." Deidara's voice was the next to cut in, prideful and arrogant in his artistic ability as always.

The leader turned his head towards the former Iwa nin. "You should not underestimate the Ichibi. Its host is none other than Sabaku no Gaara, the Fifth Kazekage."

Deidara just scoffed at that. "Pfft, it doesn't matter who he is, my art's gonna blow him away, yeah!"

The leader scrutinized him minutely for a few seconds, like a lab specimen, before turning his gaze on Sasori. "You are aware of the difficulties of this assignment?"

"Of course," the harsh, grating voice of the puppet master answered stoically.

"And you have no emotional ties with your old village?"

"I would hardly have joined the Akatsuki if I had."

The leader actually smiled at that, but it was a cold, mirthless smile. "Then we shall reconvene for the extraction process when Sasori and Deidara have captured the Ichibi. You are dismissed." There was no question of 'if' the Ichibi would be captured. For he was Pain, and his will would be done.

One by one, the flickering figures slowly vanished, until Deidara and Sasori were the only two left in the cave, in their physical bodies.

Deidara glanced narrowly at the bulky puppet of Hiruko that Sasori contained his real body in. Sasori stared solidly back at Deidara, before uttering a gruff, "What?"

Deidara continued to glare at him. "You'd better not be planning to upstage my art, yeah. Your ancient, rickety finger puppets are worthless compared to the sheer artistic joy of an explosion!"

"That's what you think, is it?" Sasori sneered back. "True art is eternal, a beauty that lives on beyond the artist. What could your pitiful fireworks display possibly get you remembered for?"

Deidara growled at the insult, but chose to ignore it. Anyone other than Sasori would have had impacted clay blasting a hole through their face if they had spoken about his creations like that, but Deidara had to admit that, however grudgingly, he respected the former Suna nin's artistic views and enjoyed their arguments over what constituted fine art. The Akatsuki were hardly a cultural group, so it wasn't as if Deidara had anyone else to talk to about artistic merit anyway.

Sasori began walking towards the cave's exit, readjusting his kasa hat on his head. "Come on, we don't have all day. You know how I hate waiting."

Deidara jumped down from the stone hand onto the cold, damp floor and followed his partner. He smiled. It would soon be time to showcase his art to the world.

-o-o-

Hinata took deep breaths, willing herself not to pass out. She thought she had gotten over her faintness around Naruto, but she had hardly been able to test this theory in the two-and-a-half years he'd been gone. Seeing him again had brought back all her childish insecurities and she had to force herself not to poke her index fingers together by clenching her hands into fists.

Naruto was walking towards her, a big grin spread across his face, and Hinata was able to get a close-up view of him for the first time since he was twelve. He was certainly taller – he had clearly grown a good few inches in his time away – and his clothing was different too; gone was the bright orange jumpsuit that she had secretly loved, replaced by a more mature jacket of a darker, more subdued orange and black. His face had lost all of the puppy fat of youth as well, hardened by years of intensive training, and his jaw line was square and firm. His hair was longer than she remembered it too, reaching down almost to the nape of his neck now.

But despite all of this, what Hinata noticed more than anything else was the way that he didn't seem to have changed at all from the boy she had loved. The same warm, blue eyes, sparkling with mischief and happiness. The same adorable whisker makes on his cheeks. The same assured, self-confident steps he took towards her… _towards her! _Hinata let out a small, "Eep!" as she realised how close Naruto had gotten, standing just a few inches away from her… within touching distance!

"Hinata! It's great to see you again!" Naruto beamed at her, bringing forth a timid smile on her own face too. "I'm back now, I'm back home!"

Hinata couldn't help but giggle at Naruto's antics. His enthusiasm had always seemed infectious to her; it brought out the best in the people around him. He seemed to make it his own personal mission to make sure that everyone around him was happy and entertained, even if he wasn't.

Naruto's grin grew even wider at the sound of her quiet laughter. "So, Hinata, what're you doing way out on the edge of the village? You can't be doing a mission if Kiba and Shino aren't here and I don't remember any training areas near this part of the village, so…?"

Hinata's breath caught in her throat as Naruto trailed off, waiting expectantly for an answer. She wanted nothing more than to tell Naruto that she had been waiting for him because she loved him, but her voice didn't seem to be working. She took a shuddering breath and tried her hardest to get the words out.

"I c-came here b-b-because I was… I w-was… I was w-waiting for you!"

Hinata blushed scarlet as she revealed the reason for her presence, but didn't regret it for a second. It wasn't exactly a confession of her deepest feelings, but it was a start, and she had learned from watching Naruto that even the smallest steps forward could make all the difference.

Naruto looked nonplussed for a second, his eyebrows rising. "Waiting for me? How did you know when I was getting back to Konaha?"

Hinata felt anxiety welling up inside her. Did he not want to see her? Had her decision to wait for him at the gates just made him angry? "I-I'm s-sorry, N-Naruto-kun, I didn't m-mean to make y-you mad," she whispered, looking down at his feet and avoiding meeting his gaze. "Hokage-sama got a l-letter saying that y-you would b-be back t-today and I… I w-wanted to s-see you again!"

Hinata could feel the sharp prickle of tears welling up in her eyes as Naruto remained silent for several seconds, but she shut her eyes tightly and forced them back before they could fall. Even if she wasn't welcome here, she didn't want Naruto to think she was weak.

But Naruto's reply sounded almost unsure, when it finally came. "You came here because you wanted to see… me?" he asked, smile disappearing to be replaced by a look of uncertainty… like he thought she wasn't telling the truth?

"Y-Yes!" Hinata mustered as much force as she could into her answer. Naruto's eyes looked confused and downcast, quite different to their usual sparkling lustre. She still felt upset and wondered whether it would be better if she just left, but she could only remember Naruto's eyes ever looking the way they did at the moment on one other occasion.

On the day of his fight against Neji in the Chuunin Exams, all those years ago.

After a few more awkward seconds, Naruto's smile came back in blinding fashion, making his face crinkle up as he grinned at her. "Thanks Hinata, that's really nice of you! You didn't have to wait here if you didn't want to, you know!" The blonde boy had said it in a light-hearted tone, but the thankful edge to his voice was clear and for the briefest instant his face had seemed totally open, with a mixture of emotions displayed all at once. She couldn't be certain of what they were in such a fleeting instant, but she guessed happiness, gratitude and… shock?

The Hyuuga heiress let out a small sigh of relief. His exuberant answer showed that Naruto was at least back to his usual self again, but she couldn't stop thinking about the raw emotion she had flashed across his face that moment. The idea that she was the cause of his happiness and gratitude made her heart swell and her cheeks heat up, but the thought that she had shocked him just by _waiting_ for him felt… wrong. He was the kindest person she knew – in her opinion he deserved much more than just her feeble presence to welcome him back to Konoha. But he was genuinely amazed at seeing her welcome him home. This thought made Hinata's chest clench as she remembered all the times she had watched him when he was younger, back when he was at the Academy. He had lived alone. He had been avoided by almost all the villagers. He was glared at by those same villagers, the villagers that he chose to protect by trying to become a ninja and risk his life for Konoha. For a fleeting moment, her eyes hardened.

Meek, shy Hyuuga Hinata was angry.

But her outrage at the residents of the Hidden Leaf Village was pushed to the back of her mind when Naruto spoke again. "Hey, you've never been to Ichiraku's before, have you? D'you wanna come with me? They do the best ramen in the world there! I wanna see if it's all still the same and meet up with Teuchi-ojisan and Ayame-neechan again. You can show me 'round the village again as well, if you want – I want to see how much has changed!"

Before a shocked Hinata could do more than nod quickly, as though the offer would be rescinded if she took even a moment to decide, Naruto grabbed her hand and started pulling her towards the village centre and the Ichiraku Ramen Bar. Hinata's face went red at the way he was holding her hand, but she nearly tripped over her own feet when she heard his next words.

"Thanks, Hinata, you're the best!"

-o-o-

Jiraiya was doing his best not to laugh at the antics of his student and the shy girl that had greeted him. It was obvious to him within seconds what was causing her to blush and stutter around the boisterous blonde ninja, but it was just as clear that his student had no clue whatsoever. Still, this just added to the drama and as the conversation between the two adolescents continued Jiraiya was sorely tempted to get out his notebook and start jotting down some new ideas for stories. He always had to be on the lookout for inspiration for his Icha Icha series after all…

Both of them had clearly forgotten all about him and when Naruto had offered to take her to Ichiraku's Jiraiya had wondered if he should interject with the suggestion that they go and see the Hokage to report their return first. However, after a second's deliberation he had decided not to. Naruto deserved a little break now that he was back home and he didn't think he had the heart to see the Hyuuga girl's face fall in disappointment.

Plus there would be some excellent material for new books if he just let them keep talking.

As Naruto ran off with her hand held firmly in his, half-dragging the poor girl along, Jiraiya thought for a moment. _'I think I'll need a second notebook to fit in all of the material that they're going to give me.'_

-o-o-

Hinata's mind seemed to have completely frozen as she thought of the way that Naruto was actually _touching _her, _holding _her as they wound their way through the village. The blonde haired boy pulling her along stopped every couple of seconds to take in a new sight, pointing out even the most mundane changes, like the bakery that had changed the colour of its door, or the clothing shop that had altered the font of its lettering. Hinata had barely even noticed such minor alterations at the time, but Naruto seemed to view these differences with a childlike glee. Hinata couldn't help but get as enthusiastic about these changes as Naruto and before long she was shyly pointing out any differences from his time away that he had missed, much to his obvious pleasure. His enthusiasm was heartening to her and she absorbed as much of it as she could, like a plant opening its leaves to the sun. Yes, that comparison seemed fitting to her. Naruto was certainly as bright, cheerful and bold as the heavenly orb that was slowly setting in the background, and she was just a small wallflower that bloomed quietly, only getting an occasional glimpse of sunlight as the larger plants around her put her in the shade. But Naruto was at least talking to her now. That had to count for something, right?

Hinata was brought out from her reverie by Naruto's delighted shout. "Yeah, I knew this place wouldn't have changed! Ichiraku's is the same as ever!"

Naruto had stopped outside a fairly large stall, with a set of stools positioned under a cloth roof to protect any customers against the elements. A savoury smell was wafting from a giant pot on an equally enormous stove, and Naruto breathed in deeply, nostrils quivering. His eyes were half closed and his face was in an expression of almost religious serenity.

And then he shattered this peaceful image by shouting through the cloth cover, "Oi, Ojisan, I'm back! Whip me up the biggest bowl of miso ramen you've got!"

Hinata blushed as all the people in the street stared at Naruto, but couldn't fail to notice that some of the looks towards the boy that she cared so much for were more angry and hateful than surprised. A low muttering had started up, and Hinata thought she heard the words, "Fox," "Back," and "Demon," before Naruto, apparently oblivious to all of this, ducked under the cloth curtain and walked towards the stools. Hinata swallowed the indignant words that she suddenly wanted to yell at the top of her voice to the people that were looking at him with such cruel eyes and followed him in, taking a seat next to him.

The man behind the counter, stirring the massive pot with a large pole, looked up when he had heard Naruto's voice and a broad grin appeared on his lined face.

"Naruto! I didn't know you were in Konoha again!" said the ramen stall owner, laying down the stirring pole and walking over to the counter, before giving Naruto a hearty pat on the back. "Ayame! You'll never guess who's here!"

A young, brown haired girl appeared from the back of the stall, where she had evidently been slicing vegetables, judging by the small knife in her right hand and the stick of celery in her left. She let out a squeal as she saw Naruto, who gave her a toothy grin in return.

Hinata felt extremely awkward as a spectator to this touching reunion. The way Naruto was talking animatedly to the two of them made her feel out of place, like she was seeing something she shouldn't, something that should have remained private. The way that they all seemed to be laughing and joking together was almost like a family.

Naruto was telling the old man the severe lack of quality ramen he had encountered whilst on his travels, when a look of slight embarrassment clouded his face. He put his arm up behind his head to scratch his back, grinning sheepishly.

"Ah, sorry, I got so caught up seeing you guys again I didn't introduce my friend. This is Hinata; she's a ninja like me. She has these awesome Byakugan eyes and this cool Jyuuken thing and–"

"Whoa there Naruto," said the owner of Ichiraku's holding up his hands. "Slow down, slow down!"

"Heh, sorry. Hinata, this is Teuchi-ojisan and his daughter, Ayame-neechan, they make the best ramen ever!" Naruto grinned.

Hinata blushed as both Teuchi and Ayame nodded their welcomes, and she managed to stutter out a greeting of her own, causing both Teuchi and Ayame to grin.

"So Hinata," Ayame asked innocently, "How did you meet up with Naruto? He only got back today, right?" Hinata blushed bright pink at the older girl's words, worried that yet another person seemed to be clued in on her feelings for the blonde haired boy sitting beside her.

"He'd better have," laughed Teuchi. "If he didn't come to get some of my ramen on his first day back it must mean his taste buds have matured and I'll lose my best customer. We'll go out of business!"

Naruto chuckled heartily and grinned at both Teuchi and Hinata, coaxing a shy smile from the Hyuuga girl too. Then Ayame cleared her throat and as he saw Hinata's blush grow an even darker hue he decided to step in and help the indigo haired girl.

"Hinata knew the day I was coming home from a letter that Tsunade-baachan had. She was waiting for me at the gates to say hi and she even agreed to give me a tour of the village when we've finished eating here. Wasn't that awesome of her?"

The fact that Naruto had been completely earnest and sincere as he had said this, not trying to poke fun at her at all, made Hinata's heart melt inside her chest. He always tried so hard to make all of his friends feel special and wanted, even her, dark, quiet and timid as she was. The broad smile he sent in her direction made her feel certain that, had she been standing up rather than sitting on her stool, her legs would have been unable to support her.

"Oh I see, that _was_ nice of you, Hinata," Ayame cut in, a small smirk on her face. She found the Hyuuga girl's quite obvious infatuation with the ramen loving blonde absolutely adorable and the younger girl just looked so cute when she was blushing. Ayame resolved herself to see what she could do abut nudging the two together. All young love needed a little push in the right direction, just to get things started, right? And it was hardly like the dense Uzumaki boy or the shy Hyuuga girl was going to be the one to make the first move, at any rate. She doubted Naruto knew that there was even a 'move' to make.

"Yeah, Hinata's always like that. She's the kindest person I know!" proclaimed Naruto, throwing one of his arms around her shoulder and pulling her closer, unaware of Hinata's wide eyed gasp, rosy red cheeks… and the fact that she was now balanced precariously on her stool.

With a muffled scream, Hinata lost her balance and fell towards Naruto, who was still pulling her in closer to him. Hinata's weight on top of him caused Naruto's stool to overbalance too. She could hear Teuchi shouting out a warning, but before the blonde ninja had a chance to regain his balance both he and Hinata had fallen to the ground with a thump in a flurry of entangled limbs.

Hinata shut her eyes tightly, trying to brace herself for the impact that she was about to have with the hard ground, but when it came it was a lot softer than she had imagined it to be. She felt a pair of strong arms surrounding her and as her eyes fluttered open, she could see that she was lying _on top of Naruto,_ and his arms were around her, protecting her from the fall. She went completely still in his firm, comfortable grip, her cheeks going both white as a sheet and bright red at the same time, making her face rather blotchy. He had moved so quickly to get between herself and the floor, was that a result of his training with Jiraiya-sama? She couldn't help but notice how warm his body was, even through his orange and black jacket, and she had the almost overwhelming urge to just cuddle up to him and bury her face in his chest…

Scandalised by the thoughts invading her mind, Hinata leapt away from Naruto as if he was too hot to touch, stammering out apologies as she did so. She didn't want him to think that she was some sort of perverted girl – she didn't know what she would do if Naruto thought less of her after falling on top of him like that.

"Hey, are you kids both alright?" Teuchi asked worriedly, peering over the top of the counter, as Ayame hovered over his shoulder, equally concerned.

As Hinata continued to apologise desperately, Naruto slowly rose to his feet, rubbing the back of his head and grimacing. "Ow, that hurt!" he whined in a childish voice, sticking his lower lip out in what Hinata thought was an adorable pout. "Are you ok, Hinata? It was my fault you fell, I'm really sorry." Naruto turned his eyes downwards and Hinata could tell that he was feeling guilty about the accident.

"N-No! I-It wasn't your fault, N-Naruto-kun. I should've b-been more careful…"

Hinata was surprised when Naruto shook his head firmly, his pain forgotten. "Ne, Hinata, you shouldn't put yourself down like that," he lectured, in a tone that Hinata found strangely similar to the voice she remembered Iruka-sensei using on misbehaving students at the Konoha Ninja Academy. "It was me that caused you to fall over and if you'd been hurt it would've been my fault." Naruto brightened as an idea came into his head. "Hey, I'll tell you what, to make up for it I'll pay for your serving of ramen! That's fair, right?"

Hinata's silvery eyes widened and she started to feel a little faint again. Naruto-kun buying her ramen was almost like a… like a date! She knew he was only paying for her because he felt guilty, but she couldn't stop her quickened pulse or the urge to cheer out loud.

"A-Are you s-sure? I wouldn't w-want to be a burden…" Hinata twiddled her index fingers together in the way that she always did when she was nervous, anxiously awaiting Naruto's response. She enjoyed the idea of Naruto treating her to a meal more than almost anything she could think of, but she didn't want him to think that she was manipulating him or trying anything underhand. She admired his honesty and held herself up to his standards.

"It's no problem Hinata, I'd be happy to. You've never tried Ichiraku ramen before anyway, right? So I'd have paid for your first bowl anyway, just to give you a taster!"

Hinata blushed at his kind words; he always seemed to know exactly what to say to cheer her up. But, there was one small problem…

"Ano… actually, Naruto-kun… I-I've never t-tried any sort of ramen before."

After a moment of deathly silence, there was a high pitched shriek of, "WHAT?" that could be heard all across Konoha.

-o-o-

Hinata and Naruto left the ramen stand to a cheery wave and 'goodbye' from both Teuchi and Ayame. After feeling so hungry earlier in the day, Hinata's stomach was now full to bursting point after Naruto had insisted she try as many flavours as she could. After sampling three different bowls of ramen Hinata had felt completely bloated, but oddly satisfied too. As a Hyuuga, she had only ever eaten the finest, most expensive dishes that money could buy, and the ramen had been as different to the refined meals she was used to as night from day. However, she would have been lying if she said she hadn't thoroughly enjoyed it. The noodles were just the right thickness and texture, the broth had been fragrant and savoury and the vegetables and meat had obviously been prepared with a skill and technique that made the flavours seem to explode in her mouth. She had nearly coughed out her first mouthful, spraying broth all down her chin, which had made her horrified at her unladylike manners and caused Naruto to crack up laughing.

The company had been just as good, if not better than the food. Teuchi and Ayame had been genuinely interested in her and what she had been doing, happy that their favourite customer was evidently comfortable enough to bring one of his friends along to meet them. Naruto had also been interested in what she had been doing in his absence and when she had shyly agreed to talk about some of the more difficult missions that she had been on and some of the battles she had fought in, Naruto had listened avidly, bouncing about on his stool to every attack, block and dodge. When she had timidly described a fight her team had taken part in against a chuunin level missing nin from Suna and how she had been the one that had landed the finishing blow, Naruto had cheered aloud, drawing yet another blush from the Hyuuga girl. The wink Ayame had given her as she had left with Naruto had also made her cheeks flush pink. Why were she and her father being so kind and supportive to someone they had never even met before?

They walked down the street together in companionable silence, with Hinata sneaking looks at Naruto out of the corner of her eye before blushing and turning away if he tuned to look at her. Naruto was rubbing his stomach contentedly – his own meal of eight bowls of ramen had dwarfed Hinata's, and she had watched on wide eyed, gazing at him in something close to awe as he shovelled the contents of bowl after bowl down his throat without even breaking a sweat, somehow still managing to talk even with a mouthful of noodles. His appetite was so large it was almost frightening.

As they turned a corner Hinata spotted some faces she knew walking towards them, though it was clear they hadn't spotted herself or Naruto yet. On the left was a tall boy with his hair pulled up into a top-knot, wearing a standard green chuunin vest. On the right was an almost equally tall blonde girl with hair separated into four bunches, wearing thick leather body armour and carrying a massive fan that was strapped to her back. Of course, it was Nara Shikamaru and the Suna kunoichi Temari, who was present in Konoha as the representative of Suna in the discussions for the upcoming Chuunin Exam. Both of them were talking animatedly, even the usually languid Nara boy, and judging by the hand gestures he was making he seemed to be arguing with her, though it didn't seem bad tempered.

"Look, you troublesome woman, it's simple. You take their knight with your queen, sacrifice your bishop and that gives your rook a chance to attack their king, forcing it to retreat. Why is that so difficult for you to comprehend?"

Temari wrinkled her nose, snorting back, "You're being far too reckless with your pieces. You don't win a chess match with all out offense you kn– hey, isn't that Naruto?"

Shikamaru looked around, surprised, and Naruto, hearing the sound of his name, saw the two ninja walking side by side. A broad grin broke out across his face as he recognised them and, grabbing Hinata's wrist as he had done earlier, he ran over to meet them.

Both Shikamaru and Temari arched an eyebrow in almost identical fashion at seeing Naruto's companion and the way he was holding her, but before either of them could do more than glance at each other Naruto had reached the two of them, with a blushing Hinata in tow.

Even though she was considerably… _distracted _by the physical contact with Naruto that was making her skin burn, Hinata was still very observant. She couldn't help but notice that Shikamaru and Temari were standing rather close for two shinobi that were just acquaintances. Then again, she reflected ruefully, she could hardly judge others on being too transparent with their feelings when Naruto's touch was making her see fireworks whenever she closed her eyes.

"Yo, Naruto, it is you!" Shikamaru drawled in his usual bored tone of voice, though his languid smile suggested that he was pleased to see his former classmate again. "Hinata, good to see you too," he commented, nodding at her, which she returned politely. He turned back to Naruto. "There go my peaceful afternoons of relaxing and watching the clouds though… with you around I know I'll never get a moment's quiet ever again."

Hinata had been a little worried that Naruto would lose his temper at that comment and start an argument, so she was pleasantly surprised to hear him laugh Shikamaru's words off. "Yeah, but you know that you like getting in on the action! At least when I'm around it's never boring!"

The shadow user's mumbled, "How troublesome…" seemed to be a fair indication that perhaps Naruto was being overly optimistic when thinking that the Nara boy would care for any sort of 'action' at all, but Shikamaru was smirking slightly nonetheless.

"So, what're you and Temari doing together?" Naruto asked, cocking his head to the side slightly. "Are you on a date?"

"With this lazy ass? Don't be ridiculous!"

"With such a troublesome woman? You must be joking!"

The overly defensive replies of both ninja made Hinata wonder whether they were really so against the idea. It might have been her imagination, but she could have sworn that both of their eyes had flickered to their partner, without being noticed by the other, before they had spoken.

Naruto's forehead scrunched up into a frown. "Huh? Then what're you two doing together?"

Temari huffed irratatedly. "We're doing work, idiot. The two of us are finalising the remaining details of the chuunin exams that are coming up soon. I'm the envoy from Suna, so it's up to me to confirm how many genin teams we'll be entering, gauge the level of danger they will be put in and –" she jerked a thumb at Shikamaru "– Get this lazy ass to do his share of the work too!"

Shikamaru gaped at her. "Are you serious? I've been back and forth from the Academy to the Hokage's office four times today passing on messages and confirming entries and so on. I'm dead on my feet!"

"So have I you know. And I've done it with a lot less complaining than you, even though I've had to put up with your moaning all day!"

"Ugh," Shikamaru grunted, rolling his eyes. "Do you have to be so loud? You're impossible… Anyway, we'd better go, we've still got to do at least one more run between the Hokage and the Academy. Good seeing you two again."

With lazy wave, Shikamaru ambled off, not looking even remotely likely to 'run' anywhere. Temari muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like, "Troublesome…" before waving goodbye to Naruto and Hinata herself and catching up to the lazy chuunin, where the debate they had been having before they had seen Naruto flared up in full force, both bickering good-naturedly as they turned off into a side street.

-o-o-

"So, Hinata," Naruto said, as he watched Shikamaru and Temari leave. "Would you mind giving me that tour now?" Hinata hesitated for the briefest of moments – the sun had almost completely set, with its last few rays piercing the top of the horizon tiredly – but she didn't want this day to end and quickly nodded her consent. Naruto grinned delightedly at her and, blushing, she showed him around some of Konoha's main attractions.

He had been thrilled when he had seen Tsunade-sama's face carved onto the Hokage mountain, making Hinata giggle with his comment that, 'They didn't get her face right – Baachan's got way more wrinkles than that!" His subsequent impressions of just how old the Godaime really was had made her laugh even more. His determined claim that, "Someday they'll carve my face onto that mountain too," was one that Hinata entirely believed in as well. She believed he would make a fine Hokage with his kindness, charisma and dedication to his beliefs.

The next stop was the Konoha Village Park, which was much larger than when Naruto had last been in the village and now possessed a lake. Naruto had taught her how to skim stones along the surface of the water, something he admitted sheepishly had taken him a long time to get right after being given a demonstration whilst away on his training mission by Jiraiya (of whom Naruto had referred to throughout this brief explanation as 'Ero-Sennin,' which had simultaneously caused Hinata to blush in mortification and laugh softly at Naruto's brashness). After a little while, with the help of Naruto's demonstrative throws and description of his technique, Hinata had finally been able to skim one of the flat rocks a small distance out into the lake before it had sunk. Naruto had clasped her hand within his and held it into the air above their heads, calling her the 'stone skimming champion,' which, combined with the physical contact, had caused her to blush so red that Naruto had thought she had a fever before her timid assertions that she wasn't feeling ill at all had convinced him otherwise.

Hinata had led him to some of the newer training areas set up on various forms of terrain as well, which Naruto had been very interested in. He seemed to particularly like the training area with ropes criss-crossing at varying heights above the ground, where the aim was to stand on them without using chakra, to test balance. Naruto had given it a try, even though it was almost dark by this time, and had fallen flat on his face on his first attempt, as the rope was slacker than he had been expecting. However, soon enough he had been hopping and leaping from one rope to another, even doing a 'victory dance' much to Hinata's amusement and worry, as he nearly lost his balance once or twice.

Finally, the two of them ended their trip around Konoha back outside Ichiraku's, which was now shut for the night. Hinata had enjoyed the day so much; she couldn't even remember the last time she had felt this happy and Naruto had been nothing short of perfect to her throughout the day. Even twenty-four hours ago she found it hard to believe that she could love him any more than she already did, but seeing him again had only served to intensify her feelings.

Naruto stretched his arms above his head, yawning widely, before realising he had company. He belatedly covered his mouth with a hand, but Hinata didn't seem to mind, just gazing up at him with a shy smile.

"Well, I'd probably better get back to my apartment now," sighed Naruto, scuffing the dirt with one foot. "I've got two-and-a-half year's worth of dust to clean!"

"Oh, ok…" Hinata felt torn. A small part of her mind was screaming at her to admit her feelings to the blonde shinobi, telling her that this was a perfect opportunity. On the other hand, the idea of doing something so drastic terrified her beyond belief. She hadn't even seen Naruto for so long before today, how could she just tell him she loved him out of the blue? She had no idea how he would react, whether he would even want her affections. He might just ignore her, or throw her emotions right back in her face, or–

"Hey, Hinata, are you ok?" Naruto's voice cut through her increasing panic, bringing her back to reality. "You kinda spaced out there…"

"Oh! I-I'm f-fine, Naruto-kun, thank y-you."

"Are you still upset about me knocking you over at Ichiraku's earlier? I'm really sorry."

"You don't n-need to be s-s-sorry, Naruto-kun," said Hinata, worried she was causing him to feel guilty. "Please don't b-blame yourself…"

Naruto smiled broadly. "Thanks Hinata. It's been really fun hanging out with you today. You know, now that I think about it, the old Hinata probably would have fainted if I'd knocked her off her stool. I still liked you before, but you really have changed a lot since I left!"

And with that, Naruto gave her an awkward, clumsy, but heartfelt hug. The contact was very brief, but it made Hinata's cheeks flare up all the same. As Naruto released her, he turned around and ran towards his apartment building, shouting, "Take care, Hinata-chan. See you soon!" over his shoulder.

Hinata remained standing completely still in that same spot outside Ichiraku's for a good five minutes before her feet would obey her and she could finally walk home. Even then her cheeks were still flushed a vivid pink that wouldn't die down, the thought of Naruto's arms around her impossible to forget. But as well as embarrassment there was a hint of pleasure in her blush too. If Naruto thought she had changed for the better she would keep trying to improve herself. For him.

**Author's Notes:** This chapter is absolutely massive by my standards, it's bigger than Chapter One and Chapter Two combined! There was a lot to pack in, but I hope I didn't lessen the overall quality of the chapter just by adding more quantity as well. The dialogue was surprisingly difficult to write for Naruto, as I was trying to keep him goofy enough to still be himself, but mature enough to show that he has grown up whilst away on his travels. Next chapter will see the first fight scene and some more Akatsuki action, as well as more NaruHina moments, so plenty to look forward to. If you're wondering why he doesn't meet some of the character he does on his first day back home in canon, such as Konohamaru and Sakura, it's because by going straight to Ichiraku's there is a shift in the timings. He still sees Shikamaru and Temari because they have been back and forth across the village liasing between the Academy and the Hokage to organise the forthcoming Chuunin Exams. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'd like to thank everyone that has read up to this point. Maybe I'm gathering my own little fan base! Oh, and this chapter was helped along by MistressWinowyll, a fellow NaruHina fanfiction writer. If you don't know about her already, I'd recommend you check out her work, it's very good. So yeah, this chapter is dedicated to her. Just so you know, a _kasa_ is a peasant's headgear and the type of hat the Akatsuki typically wear. Any queries, encouragement, ideas and criticisms are all welcomed if you want to review, so I'll see you next chapter!


	4. Kidnap and Response

Chapter Four: Kidnap and Response

Deidara gritted his teeth as yet another tendril of sand whistled dangerously past his ear. The clay bird he was riding banked sharply to the left to avoid it, causing the missing Iwa ninja's Akatsuki cloak to flutter in the wind. The Ichibi's host, Sabaku no Gaara, watched on impassively, standing above the village on a carpet of sand. Deidara was staring to wish that he had accepted Sasori's offer to double up on the Jinchuuriki brat – taking him down without killing him was proving to be tougher than he had expected and he was starting to run low on explosive clay.

Getting into the village had proven to be fairly simple, what with Sasori's spy in the Suna Village Council. Remaining undetected had also been a relatively straightforward task for someone of his abilities. For all their talk about looking 'underneath the underneath' most ninja weren't too bright. Not even considering an aerial attack had been unbelievably foolish and Deidara was only too happy to show them what would happen if they were negligent with their duty.

But that sand kid…

Another coil of sand lashed out towards Deidara's clay mount. The Akatsuki ninja quickly opened the pouch on his belt and chewed another batch of clay with the mouths on his hands, before a grunted, "Kai!" saw the sand explode in a shower of gritty smoke, causing each individual grain to retreat into the mass that Gaara was controlling. Deidara let out a sigh of relief, but he was thinking furiously about how he could penetrate the Jinchuuriki's impressive defences. He had already tried breaking through the barrier with large explosions, but the sand had absorbed the impact easily and the Ichibi's host hadn't even batted an eyelid. The fact that the fight was taking place in what was basically a desert was hardly helping Deidara either, as it meant that this Gaara boy had a limitless amount of firepower at his disposal whilst maintaining an almost insurmountable defence. Though the fact that he was using sand from the gourd on his back to defend himself and sand from the village beneath them to attack was interesting…

After another soaring dodge from his clay bird, Deidara had a plan. Not the greatest plan, admittedly, but Deidara was sure it would work. Well, fairly sure. Sasori was going to lecture him about how he should have been better prepared for this mission, though. Much as he hated to admit it, he'd underestimated the red-headed boy, but at least now he knew a way to win. The explosives expert grimaced. This was going to hurt.

-o-o-

Sasori waited at the Suna village gates in total silence, his patience beginning to wear thin. He could hear explosions at fairly regular intervals, but wasn't worried. Deidara had a knack for pulling a plan out of mid-air should he need to and the missing Iwa nin had some extremely powerful techniques up his sleeve. But what was taking him so long?

Suddenly, the largest explosion yet ripped through the air and the sky went dark. Looking up, Sasori saw that there was a colossal amount of sand levitating above the entire village, evidently under the control of the Fifth Kazekage. Deidara must have decided to use his C3 clay to attack the village. Sasori nodded approvingly. The explosives expert was using his opponent's weaknesses against him, just as they had planned. Another explosion, this one smaller than the last, was heard and a few minutes later Deidara's clay bird landed beside Sasori, with the unconscious Jinchuuriki boy wrapped safely in its tail feathers.

"What took you so long?" asked Sasori impatiently. "And what the Hell happened to you?" Deidara may have succeeded in capturing the Ichibi's host, but he looked absolutely terrible. His skin was pale and clammy, and one of the sleeves of his cloud-patterned Akatsuki robe was stained with a sizeable amount of blood.

"Little brat was tougher than I thought, yeah. I had to let him crush my arm so I could implant explosive clay into his sand. When he used that sand to try and defend himself, I blew it up." Deidara let out a ragged breath. The fight had taken a lot out of him. "I'll have to get Kakuzu to fix my arm up though. I bet he'll charge me a fortune before he does it, too. That guy is such a rip-off artist. That's the worst kind of artist there is, yeah."

Sasori looked around. Suna nin were running about like ants, in every direction. "We should leave," the puppet master said. "We need to begin the extraction process as soon as possible and the ninja of this village are sure to be on our tail before long."

The two Akatsuki members walked out of the village in silence, through the blood-stained passage of the gates.

-o-o-

Kankuro ran as hard and fast as he could through the village, pushing his way through the confused crowds of civilians whenever he needed to. He had heard that two Akatsuki members had been seen heading back towards the gates leading out of the village, with a giant bird alongside them, and the rage building up inside of him after seeing his younger brother protect the village with his last remaining strength had snapped. Part of him knew that taking on two Akatsuki members without any backup at all was close to suicide, but he could still picture Gaara falling from the sky as his ultimate defences had seemed to explode from the inside. Ignoring his common sense he gritted his teeth and tried to run even faster, his muscles straining with the effort.

Baki had shouted at him not to rush off on his own, of course, but Kankuro's rage at anyone trying to steal his younger brother away from him had blotted out any course of action but one: _revenge._

The shadows of the night were bouncing eerily off the streets, which were in chaos. Civilians and ninja alike were running about in mindless panic. Without their Kazekage, these people had no-one to lead or direct them.

Kankuro turned into the passage of the village gates and gasped in fury. Bodies littered the ground and blood covered the floor and the walls in gory patches – blood from his own, blood from Suna ninja. Kankuro inadvertently stepped in a dark puddle of red, staining his ninja sandals, and the puppet user's resolve was strengthened. '_I'll find and kill those bastards for what they've done to Gaara and my village!'_ he thought furiously as he sprinted through the passage, feet slipping slightly on the bloody floor, and out into the desert that surrounded Suna.

It was completely silent on the sandy plains, save for Kankuro's heavy breathing and the blood pumping through his ears, but that didn't matter a bit to him, because up ahead he could faintly see a white bird flapping its wings and the silhouettes of two people against the faint light of the moon. Forcing chakra into his feet he leapt the remaining distance, landing in a crouch behind the two Akatsuki members.

Without even turning around to face Kankuro, the bulky, blocky one spoke. "Deidara, take the Jinchuuriki boy back to the base. I'll take care of this."

Deidara nodded, hopping up onto the clay bird. Kankuro suddenly noticed its tail – Gaara was wrapped up in it, unconscious!

"I'm not gonna let you get away!" Kankuro snarled, reaching behind his back and drawing out three scrolls, which he unfurled over the sandy ground. With a puff of smoke, three puppets materialised, connected to Kankuro's fingers with blue chakra strings.

With a flick of his finger the puppet on the far right, Karasu, propelled itself forwards towards Deidara's mount before it could take off. Kankuro planned to cut through the bird's tail with a secret blade hidden in Karasu's mouth, but before it managed to even get close to the clay creation a blur of silver motion had halted the puppet's progress. Kankuro blinked. What looked like a segmented tail had sprouted from underneath the other Akatsuki member's robes and wrapped around Karasu like a snake, preventing it from moving. The tail was tipped with a brutal looking spike, but what made Kankuro most wary was the blinding speed it had moved at. Karasu was Kankuro's most offensive puppet, and as such had been designed to be as fast as possible, but this guy had blocked it without any effort at all.

The clay bird flapped its wings once and launched itself into the air, flying in the opposite direction of the Hidden Sand Village with Deidara and Gaara onboard. Cursing, Kankuro focused his attentions on the remaining Akatsuki member. Coming out here on his own had been foolish and now that Gaara was gone he had to focus on his own survival. Seeing his younger brother defenceless and unconscious had been unbelievably frustrating, but if he wasn't careful Kankuro knew he would end up the same way. These Akatsuki guys were dangerous.

"I don't like making people wait, so I'm going to end this quickly," the deep, grating voice of the hunched Akatsuki member announced. "But I think, judging by the puppets you're using, this battle is going to be fun for me…" The metallic tail crushed Karasu with the sound of splintering wood, before letting the broken puppet collapse to the desert floor. "Though not for you."

The metal appendage flexed, and then thrust forward at Kankuro. The speed was again surprising, but Kankuro was more prepared this time. He flicked his wrist, and Sanshouuo, his most defensive puppet, sprung into action, blocking the attack with a fringe-like iron barrier protruding from its neck joint. Kankuro grinned tightly. There was no way any direct physical attack was getting past the salamander puppet.

But something was wrong. A grinding, groaning noise was coming from the puppet's neck, where the tail had connected with Sanshouuo, and the puppet was jerking erratically without any prompting from its master. With a hideous shriek of tearing metal, Sanshouuo's iron defence crumpled and the puppet collapsed, its head severed from the rest of its body.

"A defence is only as strong as its weakest spot, boy," the Akatsuki member ground out, as he withdrew the metal tail from Sanshouuo's wrecked wooden frame. Kankuro grimaced, trying to hide his mounting worry. He was in a bad situation and he knew it. Two of his puppets had been taken down with no effort at all. The Akatsuki bastard hadn't even moved from his starting point yet.

Focusing on the tail's movements, Kankuro flicked the index finger of his left hand. Kuroari, his final puppet, launched itself towards the bulky hunchback, hidden chest cavity open and expanded to trap the man inside.

This time, instead of a constricting or stabbing movement, the long tail made a feint to lash downwards, then changed direction into a vicious side swipe. As Kankuro moved to avoid the first strike his eyes widened as he realised the ploy, but it was too late to dodge – the tail smashed Kuroari into nothing more than firewood and the follow through was heading straight towards him. Reacting quickly, Kankuro ducked backwards, but the tip of the tail grazed his shoulder. If he'd been half a second slower in dodging it, it would have taken his head off.

The scratch was a small one, but Kankuro felt a burning pain spread from the evidently not-so-minor wound. _'This guy must use poison, like me!'_ he thought sluggishly. His vision was already starting to go hazy, and he could feel sweat dripping down his face, smearing his war paint.

The large man walked up to him, his tail poised above his head like some horrific scorpion. "Not bad, boy. Against most people, those puppets you were using would have worked. But, then again," the Akatsuki member laughed humourlessly, "I'm not most people." The tail hovered above Kankuro's body, ready to thrust downwards and impale him. "That was fun, but it's time for you to die now."

Kankuro could feel the initial fire of the poison being replaced by a cold numbness, but he still had one last trick up his sleeve. "Take this, you Akatsuki freak!" he hissed, flexing the fingers on his right hand in a jerky upwards motion.

Karasu's body may have been destroyed when the Akatsuki member's tail had crushed it, but the rest of the puppet was still intact and fully functioning. Kankuro had reattached his chakra strings to just Karasu's head and its one functioning arm in a last ditch attempt to catch the Akatsuki member off guard. As the head rammed into the tail, knocking it away from Kankuro as it was about to gut him like a fish, Karasu's arm, unfolding and revealing a secret switchblade, flew straight as an arrow towards the bulky Akatsuki ninja's neck, with Kankuro intent on slitting his ugly throat.

For such a thick-set man, the Akatsuki member showed superb reflexes in jerking his head backwards to avoid the attack. Kankuro managed to cut a ribbon of Akatsuki uniform off with Karasu's arm, before it thumped lifelessly into the ground, chakra strings severed.

"I can read your puppets like a book, boy," snorted the man, looming over the immobilized Suna jonin. "You never had a hope of defeating me from the beginning."

"H-How...?" Kankuro rasped, unable to move so much as a finger as the toxins began to take effect on his body. His mouth felt incredibly dry all of a sudden.

"You want to know 'how'? You mean, how did I know the weaknesses of each of your puppets? How could I predict their movements so easily?" The man's grating voice was mocking, swimming in and out of Kankuro's ears like the poison he had been infected with. "It's simple. I was the one who invented those playthings you used as weapons against me."

Kankuro's eyes widened. That must mean this man was Sasori, the genius creator of Suna's puppet armies! No wonder he had been defeated so easily. He had tried taking on the missing nin at his own game without even realising it.

"However, I must admit that I was somewhat impressed," Sasori continued in a gravelly voice. "You are clearly highly skilled in the art of my puppetry so, as a reward, I will spare your life."

Kankuro tried to get to his feet, but it was hopeless. He could barely even move with the poison pumping through his veins, let alone stand.

A cruel, derisive edge crept into Sasori's voice. "However, you only have three days left to live with my poison in your bloodstream and there is no antidote. Enjoy the rest of your life."

With that, Sasori turned away and began walking through the desert in the same direction that the clay bird had flown in, now just a distant speck in the night sky.

As he lay in the dirt and struggled to stay conscious, Kankuro's mind kept repeating a single thought over and over. _'Gaara… I failed… I failed…I failed…'_

-o-o-

"We shall now call this emergency meeting of the Suna Village Council to order."

Baki's voice rang out across the room authoritatively, but the empty chair at the head of the table spoke volumes itself.

Baki cleared his throat. "The village is in crisis. Our Kazekage has been kidnapped by two members of the criminal organisation known as Akatsuki, one of our elite jonin, Kankuro, has not been heard from for several hours after recklessly running off to find Kazekage-sama's kidnappers, and the scouting teams we have sent after them have not reported back yet."

One of the councillors spoke up. "We must appoint a new Kazekage at once. Our village is helpless to any attacks without strong leadership."

There were several nods at this, but Baki felt the need to step in. "Need I remind you that our current Kazekage is still alive? Our efforts should be focused primarily on locating and saving him, not getting involved in a pointless power struggle for leadership!"

"Kazekage or not, Sabaku no Gaara was dangerous. Perhaps it would be best if we abandoned the search…"

Baki was infuriated to hear several murmurs of agreement with this statement, but before he could object there was a knock on the door and a Suna chuunin entered the room, bowing shortly.

"I am sorry to interrupt this meeting, Baki-sama, but the scouting team has returned with Kankuro-san and he's in very bad shape. The diagnosis shows that he's been subjected to some sort of poison, but none of the medics have seen a venom anything like this and the toxins are already slowly breaking down his body."

Baki swore viciously, before dismissing the messenger with a wave of his hand and slumping in his chair. He felt old, defeated and unbearably weary. Two of his former students had been put in critical condition or worse in a single night.

He shook his head tiredly, looking despondently across the room. "Kankuro was one of our elite jonin," he said in a hollow voice. "If he was unable to prevent Gaara being taken, we are in serious trouble."

As the whispering between the other Council members intensified, Baki made a snap decision. "We need reinforcements. We must send a messenger bird to Konoha at once!"

As soon as he had spoken, Baki silently braced himself for the reaction he knew was forthcoming. There was a moment of incredulous silence, before the Council went into a state of uproar. "That's madness!" protested one of the eldest members, shouting over the noise the other councillors were making. "If we alert that we are weakened to other villages they could start a war with us!"

"I hardly see any other course of action," replied Baki stiffly. "We need assistance, and under the terms of our alliance, Konoha is obliged to give it to us."

As the noise died down many of the faces in the Council still looked mutinous, but there were no more outward protests. Baki called the chuunin back into the meeting room, relayed the order, and massaged his temples. There was still the issue of leadership to be sorted out, and a full medical report would have to be given on Kankuro's position. The veiled jonin sighed. It was going to be a _very_ long night.

-o-o-

Naruto yawned as he woke up, wondering where he was for a moment. As he realised he was in his bedroom, lying down on his old bed with the slightly threadbare sheets, a grin spread across his face. He was home! He wanted to shout, he wanted to cheer, he wanted to –

"Yo, Naruto."

"Argh! Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto jumped up as though he'd been electrocuted, and was aghast as he saw the copy ninja squatting on his window ledge outside, leaning through the open window to speak. He knew his old teacher had some perverted habits, not least that little orange book that he always seemed to be reading, but watching one of his students sleeping was not something Naruto had been expecting. "What the Hell are you doing? What if I'd been sleeping naked?"

Kakashi thought for a second. "Then I'd have some interesting things to tell the other jonin next time I see them."

Naruto blanched. It was a good thing that he slept in a t-shirt and underwear. Especially if Kakashi had started doing this as a habit.

Kakashi's one visible eye suddenly went serious. "Much as I'd like to catch up with you Naruto, I'm afraid there isn't time. I've been told to bring you to the Hokage's office. I don't know what it's about, but it sounds important."

Naruto straightened his back and puffed his chest out proudly. "If it's important, of course I'll be needed! I'm even stronger now than before I left the village!"

Kakashi made a big show of being disinterested, pulling out his ever-present Icha Icha book from a pouch on his leg where most ninja kept their kunai and shuriken. "For all I know, maybe Hokage-sama wants a team of ninja to clear out the sewer system," he said in a light voice.

Seeing the horrified look on Naruto's face, Kakashi smiled behind his mask. "Cheer up, Naruto. They'd need someone _really_ strong to withstand the smell down there. Make sure you're at the Hokage's office in half an hour. And –" Kakashi sniffed distastefully "– Would it kill you to take a shower?"

A puff of smoke announced the jonin's departure. Grumbling about perverted teachers under his breath, Naruto stuck his head out of the window, looking left and right to make sure Kakashi really had gone. Satisfied there was no sign of his silver haired sensei, he withdrew his head, surreptitiously raised his right arm and sniffed.

Naruto practically ran towards the shower in his bathroom.

-o-o-

Thankfully washed and fully clothed, Naruto ran across the rooftops towards the Godaime's office. In the cool morning air, the village had a feeling of tranquillity about it that made Naruto glad he was home. Even though the majority of the villagers still hated him and wanted him gone from Konoha for good, Naruto felt that this was the place he belonged. As long as his precious people still wanted him here, that was all he needed.

The way that Hinata had gone out of her way to see him yesterday had reminded him of why he cared so much about protecting the village. It had been touching for him. With people like her in Konoha, he was happy – proud, even – to defend every last one of them with his life.

He smiled as he thought back to the previous day's events. He had really enjoyed being with her yesterday. For someone that came from Konoha's richest and snobbiest family, she had been surprisingly… fun. She had told great stories, listened to his ramblings and laughed at his jokes. And she had done it all because she had _wanted_ to. This was the part that Naruto was struggling to get his head around most. Her, the Hyuuga heiress, practically the royalty of the village, had _wanted_ to see him? The idea seemed absurd, but he truly appreciated it nonetheless. He hadn't had much kindness in his life, so any that he did receive from others he treasured.

Leaping over a gap in the buildings, he remembered his words to her the previous night: _'You really have changed a lot since I left.'_ In many ways she was the same Hinata that he remembered from when they were both twelve. Her Byakugan eyes were certainly the same. She pushed her fingers together in the same way that he remembered. Her reddened face was the same too. It was hard to pinpoint exactly what about her had really changed, but he was certain that there was something, he just couldn't quite put his finger on it. She looked different, Naruto supposed, though he wasn't one to judge appearances. Not when he had seen what Tsunade looked like underneath that Henge that she always used. Her hair was longer, reaching down almost to the small of her back now, and she was taller by a few inches. Her… _figure _had certainly become more womanly too, with more curves…

Naruto shook his head to get rid of those thoughts before they were fully formed, a slight red tinge to his face. He didn't want to end up a pervert, like Kakashi-sensei or Ero-Sennin, and Hinata was a nice girl, much too nice for him to think those sort of thoughts about her.

He focused back on how she had changed. Her clothing was different now. Gone was her baggy beige parka, replaced with a white and lavender jacket. It was very simple and modest, but Naruto thought that it looked quite good on the Hyuuga girl. A million times better than the endless stream of scantily clothed women Naruto had seen Ero-Sennin with on their travels.

Maybe what had changed most about her was that she didn't seem quite so timid anymore? She was still shy and quiet, but she had made an effort to make eye contact and talk to him yesterday, albeit with a stutter. She had blushed a lot, the reasons for which Naruto still couldn't figure out, but she seemed happier around him and more… comfortable. Yes, that word described Hyuuga Hinata to perfection. She radiated this air of serenity and grace that Naruto found hard to describe, but it made him feel very relaxed around her, like he could really be himself.

The one downside about yesterday for him had been the reactions of the villagers to his return. The angry ferocity of their glares had made him feel very small and lonely for a second, and it had taken a great effort to keep his face impassive and ignore their looks. He hoped Hinata hadn't noticed that the residents of Konoha were less than pleased about his reappearance. No one his age knew why the villagers shunned him and viewed him as an outcast. He placed a hand on his stomach, over the seal that had made so much of his life miserable.

Being honest with himself, Naruto fully understood the hatred of the villagers. The Kyuubi's attack had left deep scars even on those that had survived that fateful night. There was so much emotion and loss that there had to be some sort of an outlet… and the outlet for most of the villagers was him. But that didn't make the years of hardship and loneliness he had been forced to bear any easier.

His single greatest fear in the world was that his friends would some day discover his secret and reject him for it. If they hated and feared him like the rest of the villagers, he didn't know what he would do. Just the thought of his friends abandoning him made him feel physically ill.

He knew that he wasn't the Kyuubi – Iruka and the Sandaime had both told him that he wasn't the monster, he was just its jailer and he fully believed the both of them – but there were some moments that his certainty and resolve wavered. Some days it all felt too much for him to bear. The burden of being tainted by the Kyuubi's presence inside of him felt like a physical weight that dragged him down sometimes.

But whenever he felt at his lowest ebb, he just thought to himself that he was Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage, and the people that really knew him, like the other rookies, Kakashi-sensei, Ero-Sennin and Tsunade-baachan, appreciated him for who he really was. That always banished the dark thoughts from his mind. _'I'll prove to everyone that I'm not some stupid demon fox, I'm whatever I want to be, and that should be enough for everyone that matters!'_

Noddinga and satisfied with this resolution to his thoughts, he increased his pace, jumping over a startled cat that had been disturbed from sunning itself in the morning light. His stomach let out a low rumble.

'_I wish I'd had time for breakfast before I left…'_

-o-o-

Tsunade felt unbelievably cranky that morning. She had been woken up at some ungodly hour by one of Izumo or Kotetsu – she hadn't been awake enough to tell which one of them – because an urgent message had come from Suna. The fact that they had sent their fastest messenger hawk to deliver the news meant that the information must have been vitally important. After downing three strong cups of coffee in quick succession (with a little bit of sake mixed into each one), Tsunade had read the message. Her eyes had nearly popped out of their sockets. The Kazekage had apparently been kidnapped by two members of the Akatsuki, who had escaped the village, and one of their elite jonin, Kankuro, had been perhaps fatally wounded with some sort of unrecognised poison.

The first thing she did after reading the message was call for Jiraiya. She had seen him the previous night to talk about Naruto's progress and what information about the Akatsuki he had managed to gather from various 'sources.' Who some of these 'sources' were, and how Jiraiya knew them exactly was something Tsunade really didn't want to think about.

Jiraiya had been very impressed with his only student and described his training methods and new techniques in detail. In a rare moment of seriousness, he had admitted to her, "He's becoming more and more like the Yondaime with every passing day. He's like the son I never had…"

His information about the Akatsuki had been much more worrying. According to the reports he had received and the snooping he had done himself they were becoming more and more active in numerous countries. From what Jiraiya could gather there were ten members of the organisation, but there had been some alarming rumours going around. If Jiraiya's sources could be relied upon, and he assured her they could, the Akatsuki were on the lookout for Bijuu. This meant that they were not only after Naruto, but that other Jinchuuriki were in danger from the Akatsuki too.

When she had shown Jiraiya the message from Suna, he had looked very old for a moment, the lines on his face reminding Tsunade of their old sensei, Sarutobi Hiruzen. He let the scrap of paper the message was written on flutter to the floor and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I miscalculated…" his hollow, empty voice spoke. "I didn't think the Akatsuki were strong enough to attack a Hidden Village head on. What a mess…"

"W-What are we going to do?" asked Tsunade hesistantly. She'd never seen Jiraiya look so regretful and broken-down before.

"We have to send a team to Suna, that much is obvious," said the toad sage in a heavy voice. "But we barely have enough ninja to keep Konoha going as it is."

Tsunade tried to get a grip on her emotions. She was the Hokage; she shouldn't be showing weakness at a time like this. "How many ninja should we send?" she asked in the most authoritative voice she could muster.

Jiraiya thought for a second, forehead supported by his clenched fist. "No more than two teams. If we send more than that, we won't have enough ninja back in Konoha to keep accepting missions."

"Is there anyone you would recommend to be a part of this mission?"

For the first time that morning, a grin appeared on Jiraiya's face. "Who do you think?"

Tsunade arched an eyebrow. "You really think we should send Naruto out on a mission after spending one night back in Konoha? A mission with the Akatsuki involved?"

"Naruto has a connection with Suna's Kazekage, Sabaku no Gaara. If anyone would be the right choice for this mission, it would be him. And…" a hint of pride entered Jiraiya's voice. "He's ready for it."

Tsunade nodded, a smile playing on her lips also. "Does that mean you're going on this mission too?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "I can't, I'm going to head out of Konoha myself tomorrow. The best way I can serve the village is by acting as its eyes and ears out in the wilderness." He smirked for a second. "I'd like to say you're the brains, but you're more like the…" He made a cupping gesture in front of his chest with both hands, but stopped short of completing that sentence, noticing Tsunade's eyes suddenly held a murderous rage and her hands were clenched into trembling fists. The toad sage laughed nervously. "Er… would this be the right time to say that you look beautiful?"

"JIRAIYAAAAAA!"

-o-o-

Naruto was about to burst through the entrance to the Hokage's office, but restrained himself, just. Instead he just knocked on the thick oak door. After waiting half a second, he entered the room, pleased that he had made it on time for once. He didn't want any of Kakashi-sensei's weird mannerisms rubbing off on him. He realised the Naruto of two-and-a-half years ago probably would have blasted his way into the room without even considering knocking, but Jiraiya, as well as training him and teaching him new jutsus, had also forced him to learn the horrors of etiquette. Naruto shuddered at the memory. He couldn't think of anything worse than a lecture on manners and decorum… well, other than maybe cold ramen. Jiraiya had practically had to beat the idea of being polite into his skull, much to the exasperation of both of student and teacher, and it had only had limited success. Naruto was much too boisterous and flamboyant to stick to the fixed rules of etiquette for long… not to mention his short attention span wasn't exactly ideal for learning what he saw as a load of fussy rules – it wasn't like he cared about the differences between a soup spoon and a dessert spoon.

As he entered and closed the door behind him, he was surprised to see that Kakashi was in the room too, sitting down on a chair in front of the desk, head in his book as per usual. Naruto had thought that the copy nin was just passing on a message for him, but it appeared that whatever task Naruto was about to be set, Kakashi would be assigned too. Naruto sniggered as he thought back to what Kakashi had said about the sewers. His sensei wouldn't find it so funny if _he_ was the one crawling around tunnels covered in knee-high waste.

Behind the desk in the room sat Tsunade, shuffling some papers with a mildly surprised expression on her face at the manner of his entry. Naruto beamed when he saw her – she was the closest thing he had to a mother… even if she was old enough to be his grandmother.

"Hi there, Baachan! Did you miss me?"

Tsunade smiled affectionately, putting the papers down. "Of course I did, brat. But after more than two years away from the village of growing up, you still call me that disrespectful name?"

Naruto grinned impishly. "It's better than 'Ero-Sennin,' right?"

Tsunade laughed. "I suppose so. Anyway, take a seat. When the last person I called for arrives, I can brief you on your mission."

Naruto's ears perked up. "A mission? Already? Alright!" He pumped a fist into the air, only just missing knocking Kakashi off his chair. "Wait, if Kakashi-sensei is on this mission with me, who else is coming?"

Before Tsunade could answer his question, there was another knock at the door. A girl about Naruto's age entered the room, wearing a red dress, blue skin-tight ninja shorts and unisex sandals, bowing to Tsunade and nodding at Kakashi. She hadn't noticed Naruto yet, but Naruto recognised her pink hair instantly.

"Sakura-chan!"

He had thought about the pink haired girl a lot whilst he had been out of the village. She had been the whole reason he had left Konoha in the first place, to become strong enough to bring back Sasuke, to see her happy again and fulfil his promise to her. Now that he was seeing her again, a whole host of emotions were released all at once in a jumbled mess. He was happy to see her again, but this happiness was tinged with a deep-rooted guilt that burrowed away at his conscience. He hadn't brought Sasuke home yet, and they were running out of time. He only had six months left to follow through on his promise.

Sakura turned towards him and her jaw dropped in shock. "N-Naruto? Is that you?" Sakura stood by the doorframe, her facial expression one of stunned confusion. She reached out a hand, clad in a fingerless glove, as if she wanted to touch him, even though she was on the opposite side of the room to him. "When did you get back?" she asked faintly, walking towards him slowly and unsteadily.

Naruto swallowed. "Yesterday," he answered in a dry voice, gazing into his teammate's face. Echoes of the past – echoes of Sasuke – resurfaced as he looked into her emerald green eyes. They were filled with a look of remorse, and looked a little watery. "Sakura-chan, are you crying?"

Sakura looked away and brushed the back of her hand across the eyes. The glove was slightly damp as she drew it away. "Of course not Naruto, you idiot. It's just… I'm sorry."

Naruto looked up at her, surprise written all over his face. In all the time he had known Sakura, he couldn't ever remember her apologising to him even once. Where had this sudden change in heart come from?

"What are you apologising for Sakura-chan? You don't need to be sorry about anything… except maybe for all those times you used to hit me!" he grinned, trying to lighten the mood.

"Idiot," said Sakura softly, but with a watery smile. "I'm sorry because… before… I couldn't help you try to save Sasuke-kun."

Naruto felt as though an iron fist was crushing all the air out of his lungs. The way she had brought up Sasuke's name made it all feel so real, that he was no longer with them and had committed himself to a path of darkness and revenge.

She continued in a quiet voice. "Back then, when he left the village, I couldn't do anything to change his mind or stop him. I wasn't strong enough…" Sakura's voice hardened and her tears were replaced by a determined glint in her eyes. "But from now on that's gonna be different. I've been training myself into the ground since you've left, so this time you won't have to do it by yourself!"

Naruto grinned at her. "Yeah, that's the spirit, Sakura-chan!" he said enthusiastically, giving her a thumbs up sign that she rolled her eyes to, but which made her smile in spite of herself. "We'll bring back Sasuke together, as a team!"

Tsunade couldn't help but smile at the two young ninja before her. They had both grown up so much over the last few years. But her face darkened as she realised what she had to say to them that would shatter this mood of camaraderie and friendship.

Seeing the Hokage's expression, Kakashi quickly intervened. "Naruto, Sakura, I know it's been quite a while since you saw each other last and there's a lot to catch up on, but we have a mission to be briefed on."

Sakura promptly sat down on the one remaining chair, on the opposite side of Kakashi to Naruto, with a hastily mumbled apology. Naruto muttered a quick, "Oh right, sorry," of his own and fidgeted in his chair, waiting for the details of his new mission.

Tsunade sighed. She felt awful about being the one to break this news to Naruto, but she consoled herself with the fact that at least she was giving Naruto the power to remedy the situation himself, something she knew he would want.

"We received word from Suna in the early hours of the morning concerning the criminal organisation known as the Akatsuki." Naruto tensed at these words. "According to the reports, a team of two Akatsuki members infiltrated Suna, killing numerous ninja guarding the gate, and managed to successfully kidnap the village's Kazekage."

She watched as Kakashi's one visible eye widened and Sakura gasped. However, the majority of her attention was focused on Naruto, wondering how he would take the next bit of news.

"In an attempt to rescue the Kazekage one of Suna's elite jonin, Kankuro, engaged a member of the Akatsuki in combat. He was defeated and poisoned by an unknown toxin that the Suna medics seem unable to find an anti-venom for. Their best estimates give him at most three days to live."

Naruto gripped the arms of his chair tightly. He remembered the puppet user from the Chuunin Exams and knew that he was a very clever and shrewd fighter. If he had been taken down, these Akatsuki guys must have been incredibly strong.

Tsunade steeled herself. This was going to be the hardest thing to reveal to the blonde ninja. "Naruto, do you know who the Kazekage is?"

Naruto shook his head slowly. A small part of him was dreading the answer, though he didn't know why.

Kakashi spoke in a low tone into Naruto's ear. "The Fifth Kazekage is Sabaku no Gaara."

Naruto let out a strangled gasp. "They… they got Gaara?" he whispered, appalled at the idea of one of his precious people in the hands of Akatsuki.

Tsunade nodded sombrely. "We think that they were after Gaara for what resides inside of him. We suspect that Akatsuki are attempting to collect Bijuu, though for what purpose we don't know. What we do know, however, is that Gaara was alive when the Akatsuki captured him."

Naruto jumped out of his chair, wild hope displayed on his face. "Then there's still a chance! We can still save him!"

"Exactly," said Tsunade, clasping her hands together on the desktop. "That is why I am sending you, Sakura and Kakashi to Suna, to find out what exactly happened and assist with their attempts to find and rescue Gaara, with another team on standby if a combat situation arises. I expect regular updates, and you should move out in the next two hou–"

"Hold on a minute!" Naruto exclaimed, jumping from one foot to the other as if the floor were on fire. "You can't just send three ninja for something this important! At very least we should have a four man cell go to Suna!"

Tsunade frowned. "I wish we could, believe me Naruto," she tried to placate him, "But there are barely enough ninja in the village as it is."

"C'mon Baachan," Naruto pleaded. "We have to save Gaara! If there's anything we can do to give us a bigger chance of getting him back then we have to do it!"

Naruto was slightly surprised when Kakashi stepped in to help him out. "I don't mean to speak out of turn, Hokage-sama, but Naruto may have a point," he said, readjusting the mask that covered his face and closing his book with a snap. "A three person team may not be enough when considering our enemies. And a backup team would take well over a day to reach Suna from here, even going flat out. If there was anyone available, I would certainly be happy to accept them onto the team."

Tsunade growled exasperatedly. "Even if we could spare another ninja, who would agree to a mission like this on such short notice? You still have to leave in no more than two hours."

Naruto looked stumped for a minute, and furrowed his eyebrows in thought. Suddenly, a broad grin lit up his face. "If I can find someone that wants to go on this mission with us, will you let them?"

Tsunade looked puzzled for a moment, then huffed in annoyance. "Ugh, yes, fine, if you can find someone. But who do you have in mind?"

Naruto's grin grew even wider.

-o-o-

'_Left! Right! Block! Right!'_

Hinata desperately attempted to evade all of her opponent's attacks, ducking and weaving around his forceful blows as best as she could. Her Byakugan was activated, allowing her to see her assailant's movements in striking detail, and after blocking her opponent's attempt to hit her with a roundhouse kick she jumped back, attempting to put some space between the two of them. She was breathing heavily and her jacket was a little dusty from where she had fallen earlier in the fight, but she did not take her eyes off her foe for even a second.

"Very good, Hinata-sama," Neji said, slowly pivoting on his foot into an attacking Jyuuken stance. The two of them had been sparring in the Hyuuga compound's courtyard for over an hour now and were both feeling tired. It had been at Hinata's request that Neji was fighting with her. After missing training the whole of the previous day for reasons that she refused to give, blushing crimson when Neji had asked her, she had resolved to train extra hard today to make up for it. Hinata thought she was doing fairly well – even though Neji was clearly the superior fighter he only managed to connect with a meaningful attack at infrequent intervals and she defended her chakra points carefully from his mild Jyuuken strikes. They were both only using enough chakra to numb any joint they connected with, but this made defending more and more difficult as the fight progressed – if a muscle locked it made moving the limb precisely very difficult. After over an hour of this Hinata felt like one big bruise, but she couldn't give up yet. She remembered watching Naruto train to his very limits and she wanted to match the standards he set himself. She would do her very best and keep trying until she had nothing left to give.

Neji propelled himself towards her for another attack, launching a barrage of Jyuuken strikes at his younger cousin with blinding speed and unerring precision, forcing her into a series of elaborate blocks to avoid the effects of having her tenketsu closed. She ducked under his last strike and tried a leg sweep, hoping to catch him off guard, but Neji was prepared and jumped over her outstretched leg, grabbing hold of the collar of her jacket, yanking her upwards and descending onto his back in one continuous motion. Hinata was flipped over the now grounded Neji and landed in a heap on the ground in a cloud of dust. Neji picked himself up, arching his back and wincing as a few of the vertebrae popped back into place.

"I think it would be best to take a short break now, Hinata-sama," said Neji, wiping the sweat from his brow with one hand and offering the other to Hinata to help her up. The Hyuuga girl accepted his hand with a tired smile, getting to her feet and brushing herself down. She and Neji made their way over to the steps at the front of the Hyuuga main house and both sat down, working the kinks and numbness caused by the Jyuuken strikes out of their joints.

A maid entered the courtyard carrying a tray, with a small teapot and two cups balanced on it. Hinata accepted the proffered tray with a thankful bow, which the maid returned, before leaving quietly, in the fashion of all branch family servants. Hinata poured out a measure of tea for both herself and her cousin, and they both sipped at the beverage in silence.

As she took swallow of her tea, she saw a different Hyuuga walking towards her. She recognised him as another branch family member, and a regular sentry of the Hyuuga compound gates. She was a little surprised to see him away from his station – there were always two gatekeepers, and the only reason a gatekeeper left the gates whilst on duty was if they had to deliver a message to someone about a guest waiting to be admitted inside the Hyuuga complex.

He stopped and bowed to her. "Excuse me if I am interrupting your training, Hinata-sama, but you have a visitor waiting outside the gates. He is… ahem… most insistent that he sees you."

"S-Someone wants to see me?" asked Hinata, perplexed. She had arranged to meet Kiba and Shino for training that afternoon, after her morning sparring session with Neji, so she doubted it was either of them. A small, hopeful voice in the back of her mind wondered if perhaps Naruto wanted to see her again after spending the day together yesterday, but she dismissed it regretfully. After all, why would Naruto go out of his way to see _her_?

But as she walked towards the gates to present herself to this mysterious visitor, she couldn't quell the fluttering of her heart; it was taking a good deal of self control not to break out into a run. Just the thought that it _might_ be him was enough to make her feel lightheaded.

As she got closer to the gates of the Hyuuga compound she could hear a voice arguing with the one remaining gatekeeper on duty and she stopped dead in her tracks, heart thumping hard in her chest. _'No,'_ she thought, blood rushing to her cheeks. _'My mind must be playing tricks on me. It couldn't be his voice I'm hearing, could it?'_

She walked almost dreamlike up to the Hyuuga complex's gates, her feet feeling like they weren't even touching the ground. She raised her eyes, hardly daring to hope for a sign of the one she admired so much.

The gates were open, as they always were in the day time. In the small, cramped gate house sat the one remaining gatekeeper, who was getting berated by a spiky haired, orange clad ninja.

Hinata gasped as she saw him, and Naruto looked up, spotting her. His previous irritation melted away to be replaced by an expression of happiness.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, you are here!" grinned Naruto, waving at her. "This jerk –" he pointed at the gatekeeper, who looked quite dazed from Naruto's tirade "– Wouldn't let me in to find you!"

Hinata breathed shallowly as she walked slowly up to him. This whole situation felt faintly surreal to her, with the gatekeeper sneaking off, presumably to recover from Naruto's verbal assault. "N-Naruto-kun, was there s-something y-you wanted with m-me?"

Hinata blushed as she realised the connotations her words had possessed, but Naruto just continued grinning at her.

"Yep, there sure is, Hinata-chan," he said, his blue eyes shimmering with amusement and excitement. "D'you wanna come on a mission with me?"

**Author's Notes: **Well, this chapter was certainly the hardest to write so far. Most difficult to write was the dialogue for Sakura, mostly because I don't particularly like her character. I don't particularly mind fans of NaruSaku or anything underhand like that and yes, I know Sakura does have her good points, but the way she treats Naruto sometimes can be a bit grating; I can't see how any sort of romantic relationship can build up when one character consistently uses violence against the other. Yeah, I know it's done for comedic purposes, but I'm pretty sure that if Naruto and Sakura were ever to get in a relationship and she hit him hard enough to smash him into a wall it would be considered domestic violence and if Naruto was the one hitting Sakura instead I don't think there'd be quite so many NaruSaku fans out there. Gender stereotypes, eh… Anyway, I spent a lot of time trying to get the fight scenes to work out alright in this chapter – in my first draft they were kinda jerky and stop-start, so I hope I've ironed out those kinks. I admit that there wasn't all that much NaruHina in this chapter, but I hope I've made up for it with action scenes, plot building and character development. Plus, I've left the chapter ending on a freaking volcano, ready to erupt in a fiery ash cloud of NaruHina lava. Yes, I agree that sounded very corny. Anyway, if you've got anything you'd like to say about this chapter or the story in general feel free to drop me a review, and thanks to everyone that has read or reviewed so far, you're all great! I'll try to update again soon, byesies!


	5. The Bonds of Teamwork

Chapter Five: The Bonds of Teamwork

Hinata found herself totally unprepared for Naruto's offer to join him. Her whole body just wouldn't respond. She felt as though her tongue was paralyzed and she was completely unable to utter a single word. Even if she could have spoken, there was no way that her brain had the capability to form a coherent sentence.

Naruto just waited, grinning expectantly as she struggled to regain control over her rebellious body. She wanted to scream out, _"Yes!"_ as loud as she possibly could, she wanted to say that there was nothing in the world she wanted to do more than have an opportunity to prove herself strong to him so that he would admire her. If only her body didn't feel as unresponsive as a block of wood!

"Ne, Hinata-chan, are you ok?" Naruto asked, cocking his head to the side in that way she found almost unbearably cute.

"I… I…" Hinata tried her hardest to answer him, but the words just wouldn't come. It was frustrating and humiliating all at once, and she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. She felt ashamed of herself. She had vowed that she would change to become more like the one she loved, but right now she couldn't even speak to him.

Naruto could see the Hyuuga girl's growing discomfort and tried to take some of the pressure off her. "If you can't come on the mission with me it's ok, Hinata-chan," he said kindly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to come if you don't want to. I don't want you to think that you'll hurt my feelings or something if you say no."

Hinata could tell Naruto was joking, but just the thought that she might cause him pain in some way, even slightly, was enough to jolt her into action.

"N-No!" she cried out in desperation, as forcefully as she could. Surprised at the volume of her voice, Naruto flailed his arms backwards comically, before losing his balance and falling flat on his behind, gazing up at her incredulously.

Hinata put her hands over her mouth in shock, horrified by what she had done. She hadn't meant to startle him like that! He must be angry at her for making him fall over like that. He might never want to see her again. There was certainly no hope of him wanting her to join him on his mission now.

"N-Naruto-kun! Oh, I'm so sorry," she squeaked, turning her face away so he wouldn't see how red it was. "I didn't m-mean to…" she trailed off anxiously, biting her lower lip.

Naruto just sat on his rump where he had fallen, a shocked expression on his face – and then laughed. It started off as just a few small chuckles, but soon he was rolling about on the ground, clutching his sides as he whooped with laughter. Hinata stared at him, confused. Did this mean he didn't mind her knocking him over after all?

Eventually, laughing fit over, he stood up again, brushing himself down – he was just as dirty as Hinata now – and gave her a big grin.

"Heh, I never knew you could be so loud, Hinata-chan!" Hinata blushed, abashed, but smiled timidly, feeling very relieved that Naruto hadn't been angry at her, whilst at the same time inwardly chastising herself for thinking he wouldn't want to see her again. She knew he always stuck by his friends, even if they had wronged him in some way – his continuing loyalty to Uchiha Sasuke was testament to that.

Naruto pulled at one of the sleeves of his jacket, trying to straighten it out after his fall. He looked up and beamed a smile at her again. "I think I'm gonna have to be more careful around you, Hinata-chan. That's the second time I've fallen over around you in two days!"

Naruto moved his face closer to hers, and she realised that he was still expecting an answer on whether or not she wanted to go on the mission. Blushing bright pink at his close proximity, Hinata took a deep breath. She could do this. This was her chance. She couldn't blow it!

"I w-w-would l-l-love to g-go with y-you on your m-mission, N-Naruto-kun," Hinata stammered, cheeks flushing an even darker shade of red at the word 'love.'

The smile Naruto flashed at her was enough to dim the sun in Hinata's eyes. "Thanks, Hinata-chan, I knew I could count on you!"

-o-o-

After swiftly packing with Naruto's overenthusiastic 'help' and getting permission from her father, Naruto and Hinata met up with Kakashi and Sakura at the village gates. Just before she had left the Hyuuga compound, Hinata had remembered that she was due to meet up with Kiba and Shino later that day, and had shyly asked Neji to tell Kiba and Shino where she was if they asked for her.

With Hinata and Naruto present, Kakashi quickly mapped out their route to Suna, and without any further ado they set off into the forest surrounding Konoha. The four of them kept in tight formation as they travelled towards Suna, moving as quickly as they could through the dense forest. Hinata was at the front of the four man cell, scanning the area ahead of her with her Byakugan periodically, not keeping it active the entire time to save chakra. Kakashi-sensei had already told them all that they were going to be setting the fastest pace they could manage in order to reach Suna in the minimum possible time, so she didn't want to tire herself out unnecessarily. All four of them had taken soldier pills in order to maintain the punishing speed the silver haired jonin was setting.

Despite the gruelling pace Naruto was still his usual self, laughing, joking and generally keeping the mood of the group light. He seemed to be taking it upon himself to keep the team's morale up and Hinata was thankful for it. She knew that she was almost an interloper into the regular activities and dynamic of Team Seven and felt out of place. Sakura, Kakashi and Naruto all knew each other's mannerisms and abilities, whereas she was an ignorant outsider by comparison. In particular, Hinata felt a little intimidated by the aloof, silver haired jonin-sensei leading the team, but as they had taken a quick break for lunch and she had shyly admitted her apprehension to Naruto, he had laughed.

"Don't worry about it, Hinata-chan," he had said, leaning in conspiratorially and speaking in an undertone. "Kakashi-sensei may act all cool and stuff, but he's really weird in his own way too. He's never on time for any of our team meetings and he has this strange rivalry thingy going on with Gai-sensei. He has his quirks too, same as everyone else."

Hinata's fears had been soothed by Naruto's kind words, though the blonde headed ninja's impish whisper of, "Oh yeah, he also reads a load of porn!" had been scandalizing.

Throughout the journey, Hinata had been sure to keep an eye on any interaction between Naruto and Sakura. She knew that, in the past at very least, Naruto had been very much enamoured by the pink haired medic nin and was worried that Naruto may still like her. However, from what she could judge Naruto didn't appear to be showing Sakura any undue amount of attention. He was certainly talking to her, asking her questions about what she had been doing in the time he had been out of the village, telling her about his training and reminiscing about the past, but he was doing the same to Kakashi-sensei and, to her pleasure, herself as well. In fact, perhaps Hinata was imagining it, was he talking to her _most?_ Surely not, she must just be fantasising it.

Either way, Hinata was fairly confident that Naruto was at very least not outwardly showering Sakura with affection, much to the shy Hyuuga girl's relief, and after travelling a long distance that day they finally stopped for the night in a clearing, under a clear night sky. The twinkling stars were shining brightly against the dark heavens and the moon was like a dimmed spotlight, bathing the forest in a pale, mystical glow.

Kakashi sat down on a blackened tree stump that looked like it had been hit by lightning at some stage in the fairly recent past. "Alright, this should do for camp tonight," he said, putting down the large pack of supplies he had been carrying on his back and flexing his shoulders to work out the stiffness. "Naruto, you take first watch, Sakura, you go after him. Hinata and I will take turns watching tomorrow night, if we haven't reached Suna by then. I don't think we should have any problems, but you never know, so stay alert."

"Right, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto barked, snapping to attention and saluting. The wink he sent in the direction of the girls showed that he wasn't taking it completely seriously, causing Sakura to roll her eyes and Hinata to stifle a giggle.

After quickly collecting some firewood for a small campfire, Hinata hurriedly ate a ration bar from her pack, unfurled the sleeping bag she had hastily packed before she had left and tried to get some sleep. After lying silently for over half an hour though, listening to the deep, steady breathing of Kakashi and Sakura, she realised it was hopeless. The aftermath of the soldier pill was still having a faint effect on her body and the ground she was resting on was uncomfortable, but the main thing that was keeping her eyes wide open was knowing that Naruto was sitting so close to her. She felt very warm and safe knowing that he was watching over her like a guardian angel, but not in the least bit drowsy.

She turned in her sleeping bag to face him. Opening her eyes to squint, she saw his silhouette sitting on top of his own sleeping bag with his back to her, gazing into the dying embers of the fire. However, he evidently must have heard her turning over, as he turned around to face the shy Hyuuga girl and grinned at her. He stood up and walked over to her, squatting beside her and whispering, "Can't sleep?"

Hinata blushed and shook her head, very aware that Naruto's breath was faintly tickling her skin.

"Do you wanna talk?" Naruto offered, speaking in an even quieter voice to avoid waking the sound asleep Kakashi and Sakura. The vibrations of his deep, masculine voice made Hinata shiver from the pleasurable sensations it made as it brushed against her ear.

"Um, y-yes, I'd l-like that, Naruto-kun," Hinata breathed out, wriggling out of her sleeping bag and walking with Naruto to sit around the campfire, away from the sleeping forms of Kakashi and Sakura. She couldn't help but wonder why Naruto wanted to talk to her though. Was he just looking for company, or was there another reason? She blushed as she thought of the motives she hoped Naruto wanted to talk to her for, but maybe it wasn't quite so strange for him to want to engage her in conversation after all, bearing in mind how he had been speaking with her a great deal over the last two days, and he seemed to be enjoying it, too. He had even been talking to her more than his old teammates today, which made her feel very warm inside.

"Ano… N-Naruto-kun…" Hinata started, her voice a little unsteady, but curious. The more she thought about it, the more she felt a burning need to know why Naruto was showing her so much attention and she resolved herself to overcome her shyness and ask him.

"Yeah?" Naruto replied comfortably, lying back on the ground with his hands behind his head. The shadows cast by the last remaining flickers of the fire made played over Naruto's face, making him look very mature to Hinata. She could imagine his face under the Hokage's ceremonial hat and smiled at the image. As she gazed into his deep blue eyes, full of happiness and warmth, she thought she saw something else there too… was it wisdom? That was something she had never associated Naruto with in the past, but she was nearly certain of it. It looked almost as though… almost as though he knew what she was going to ask him! The image of Naruto as the Hokage some day strengthened in her mind and, feeling slightly bolder, she spoke a little more firmly, trying to repress her stutter as best as she could.

"Ano…why were you talking to me so much today? I d-don't mean I didn't like it," she hastily added, not wanting to give the blonde boy the wrong idea, "B-But I don't understand. You were speaking to m-me even more than you were to Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-san, even though you're their teamamate… I was just w-wondering…"

Naruto's smile grew, and he looked thoughtful for a moment. "I think it was partially 'cos I was trying to get you to be a bit more open around Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan. They don't really know you that well, so I was trying to show them the real you. I know you're a bit shy, but once you open up you're really fun to be around and I wanted Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan to see that as well. I guess it must be tough being thrown onto a new team with people you don't know very well, so I wanted to give you a helping hand!"

Hinata blinked with surprise. She hadn't been expecting Naruto to be thinking ahead like that, but then again she hadn't expected him to think about her feelings at all either. A rosy blush spread across her cheeks. Naruto had been trying to help her for the entire day, and she hadn't even realised! She felt like such a fool!

"I d-didn't know, Naruto-kun," she stuttered, upset that she had underestimated the object of her affecions. He had proved himself to be kind and considerate so many times before that she felt as though she had betrayed his confidence by not trusting in him. "I should h-have r-realised, I'm s-sorry. I didn't w-want to b-be a b-burden for you…"

Concerned by her sudden low spirits, Naruto instinctively put an arm around her shoulder. He felt Hinata tense up beneath him, but slowly she relaxed into his touch. "Ne, Hinata-chan, you don't need to worry about being a burden. When you were gone to get the firewood I heard Kakashi-sensei say how impressed he was by you! You kept up with us the whole way without complaining or slowing us down once, and your Byakugan is amazing! You must have trained really hard whilst I was away, you've definitely gotten stronger!"

Hinata was sure Naruto was exaggerating, but she felt her heart swell up all the same. She smiled shyly up at Naruto's grinning face.

"Thank you, N-Naruto-kun," she whispered, feeling very secure with his arm around her. She shifted position slightly, so that her face was leaning against his chest, allowing her to listen to his heartbeat and letting the warmth of his body seep into her. She yawned, covering her mouth with a hand. All of a sudden she was feeling very drowsy, and her eyelids were heavy.

Naruto chuckled, his chest moving under Hinata. "You don't need to thank me, Hinata-chan. You're really strong and cool – Kakashi-sensei and Sakura would have to be blind not to notice! Besides," he grinned cheesily, "The main reason I talked to you was because I wanted to!"

The battle to keep her eyes open any longer was futile, and Hinata feel into a deep slumber, with Naruto's arm still pulling her close. The last thing she saw before sleep overcame her was Naruto's kind, caring smile, stretching endlessly across his face and into her dreams.

-o-o-

Pain made some elaborate seals in his astral projection body. **"Fuuin Jutsu: Genryuu Kyuu Fuujin!"**

Nine beams of light blasted into Gaara, who slowly rose into the air, levitating spread-eagled between two stone hands. A strange red light that appeared almost liquid-like was surrounding him and it seemed to be emanating from the sand user – or rather, being sucked out of him. A shadowy figure stood on each of the stone hand's fingers in deep concentration, watching as Gaara's unconscious body lay limp, his head rolling on his neck as the red light flickered, waxing and waning at irregular intervals.

A huge, hideous stone face watched over this procedure. Its mouth was filled with craggy teeth and the features hewn onto its face looked deformed, as if the person that had carved it had only the vaguest idea of what a human face looked like. The face had several eyes, making it appear even uglier, though all of them were shut. However, one of its eyes was ever so slowly inching open bit by bit as the red light was drawn out of Gaara's eyes and mouth. The half open eye revealed a blurry, manic pupil, filled with the deranged look of insanity.

"How much longer do you suppose this sealing technique will take?" asked Kakuzu in a low, malicious voice. "I have people to kill and bounties to collect."

"Patience," Pain replied in a monotone, maintaining his focus on the body of the Jinchuuriki floating in the air. "Without Orochimaru it will take longer than our original estimations. I would predict approximately three days will be needed to fully extract the Ichibi from its host."

Kakuzu scowled darkly, but didn't respond.

Sasori spoke up next. "What is our plan to prevent any unwanted… intruders?"

"Zetsu will keep us informed if there is any possibility of an interruption," Pain answered. "For now, we must continue the extraction process."

The voices in the cave died down, so that the only sounds were the flickering of the astral projections, the steady breathing of Deidara and Sasori and the pulsing of the red light being sucked out of Gaara's helpless body.

-o-o-

Hinata awoke the next morning to find herself tucked securely into her cosy sleeping bag. She wondered how she had gotten there – she hadn't fallen asleep in it, had she? No, she distinctly remembered being unable to sleep at first, and then she had…

Hinata blushed bright pink, remembering the events of the previous night. She must have fallen asleep lying against Naruto! Oh God, how embarrassing! What would he think of her now?

Before Hinata's worry could increase into panic, Sakura noticed she was awake.

"Good morning, Hinata," she greeted the Hyuuga heiress politely. "Would you like some breakfast now? Kakashi-sensei says we should leave in about half an hour. He and Naruto are washing in that stream we passed a little while back yesterday evening."

Hinata blushed at the thought of Naruto washing and stammered her thanks to the offer of a morning meal. Sakura had already rekindled the fire and begun cooking what looked like a broth of some kind in a large, collapsible pot. After letting it simmer for a short while, Sakura ladled equal portions out into four bowls, taken from Kakashi's rucksack, just as Naruto and Kakashi returned.

The fact that Naruto was shirtless as he walked back into the clearing made Hinata blush scarlet, her eyes taking in the little rivulets of water dripping down his chest. She could faintly hear him arguing about something with the silver haired jonin, but seeing Naruto like this had made all her other senses hazy and indistinct. His muscles looked so defined and toned…

Hinata was snapped out of her dreamy reverie by Kakashi's annoyed voice. "Look, Naruto, I know that teamwork is important, but the Hokage explicitly told us to get to Suna as soon as possible. We can't afford to waste any time."

"But that's just it, Kakashi-sensei; this isn't a waste of time! What happens if we get to Suna and our teamwork isn't right? What if we fail the mission because we weren't –" Naruto frowned for a moment, struggling to find the word he was looking for "– Synchronized? Yeah, that's it, synchronized! Besides, it's not just for Hinata-chan – I haven't teamed up with you or Sakura-chan for over two years now so I'm probably a little rusty too. I just want us to save Gaara, and we can't do that unless we work well together!"

Kakashi shrugged lazily. "I'd forgotten how persistent you were Naruto. Ok, fine, we'll do a quick team building exercise before we leave camp. How does that sound?"

"Alright!" Naruto crowed triumphantly. "Thanks Kakashi-sensei, we won't let you down!"

As Naruto settled down and grabbed a bowl of the broth, Hinata tore her eyes away from his torso and gripped the hem of her jacket; she had mixed feelings after listening to the end of the conversation between student and teacher. On the one hand, she was flattered that Naruto was still looking after her and making sure that she was integrated into the team as well as possible, but on the other she felt very nervous about any team building exercise she would be taking part in. She had never really worked with Naruto, Sakura or Kakashi before this mission. What if she messed up in some way that caused them to fail this test? Or, even worse, what if she did so badly that Kakashi-sensei didn't want her on the team anymore?

She ate her breakfast in a worried silence, sitting opposite the now fully clothed Naruto, anxiety gnawing away at her gut, before Kakashi explained the task that they would be set.

"Ok, this is what you'll have to do. The three of you will work together to capture –" he pulled a small bell attached to a piece of string out of his pocket "– This." Hinata was puzzled, but Naruto and Sakura both groaned. That was ominous.

"Kakashi-sensei, do you carry that damn bell around with you _everywhere?_" Naruto grouched, folding his arms across his chest moodily.

Kakashi paused for a moment. "… Did you say something?"

Naruto ground his teeth in annoyance, eyes narrowed. Kakashi ignored him and continued as though he hadn't been interrupted.

"If any one of the three of you succeeds in taking the bell from me, within an hour, you all pass. Any ninja techniques are allowed, and I recommend you come at me full force if you want to succeed, because I won't be holding back either. Oh, and none of us are allowed to travel further than three miles from the camp. Knowing Naruto, he'd probably get lost if we went any further than that."

"Hey!" shouted Naruto indignantly.

Kakashi ignored him again, pulling up the hitai-ite that covered his left eye. Hinata was surprised to see a brutal looking scar running down though his socket, but was even more shocked to see that instead of an eye with a dark pupil to match his right, he possessed the Sharingan, the legendary kekkei genkai of the Uchiha clan. "Good luck," he said cheerfully, before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

-o-o-

Kakashi reappeared perched on the branch of a thick tree, only about two metres from the edge of the camp. His aim in this test wasn't just to see what techniques three ninja used in their attempts to achieve their goal, or the teamwork they displayed. What he was really curious about was what sort of strategy they would use to find him and dispossess him of the bell. The old Naruto would be overly headstrong and rush into things without thinking, the old Sakura would have been overly confident in her own intelligence and from what he knew about Hinata's personality after viewing her yesterday, she would be too shy and passive to voice her own opinions. It would be interesting to see if they were all able to work past their respective dispositions to function well as a unit.

The copy nin watched as Naruto tightened the headband of his hitai-ite, Sakura pulled on a pair of fingerless gloves and Hinata prodded her fingers together nervously. Kakashi remained hiding in wait.

He sighed behind his mask. _'This could take a while…'_ he thought, and promptly used the shunshin transportation technique again, disappearing in an instant.

-o-o-

Now ready for action, Naruto turned to the two girls. "Ok, what's the plan?" he asked excitedly.

Hinata blushed a little as her heartbeat sped up at his question. _'Naruto-kun actually wants my opinion?_' she thought. If Naruto wanted her take on the situation, he must have been honest when he said that he thought she had changed. _'He's acknowledging me… and he's being so kind as well…'_

Sakura's eyebrows rose. "Plan? Since when did you care about making a plan? You always used to charge headlong into things without even considering the consequences."

Naruto smiled wistfully, remembering the old missions that Team Seven had been on, and the loud-mouthed defiance that had gotten him into trouble on multiple occasions. "Yeah… but I guess I'm a bit more mature now Sakura-chan," he said earnestly, a thoughtful look on his face. "Though not by very much," he added impishly, grinning at both Hinata and Sakura and earning a blush and a roll of the eyes respectively.

Sakura cleared her throat. "Ok, well it's great that you're a fully fledged, responsible adult now," she said sarcastically, causing Naruto to scowl good-naturedly. "But we need a plan to find Kakashi-sensei and get that bell off him. Do you guys think it'd be best if we split up or stayed together?"

"Maybe I could separate from the two of you and use a bunch of Kage Bunshin to lure Kakashi-sensei into a trap," mused Naruto. "If you two set it up, he wouldn't know what hit him!"

"Ano… w-with my Byakugan, I can t-track Kakashi-sensei," Hinata offered tentatively. "If we d-did set a trap, I would know when he came into r-range s-so we could implement it."

Sakura nodded slowly. "Yes, that could work. It relies a lot on Naruto's taijutsu and pursuit skills though. If Kakashi-sensei works out what Naruto is trying to do or manages to give you the slip, the plan will fail. And if Kakashi-sensei is strong enough to fight off all your Kage Bunshin, he's not going to be directed towards our trap. We need him on the run. Can you really do that Naruto?"

Sakura's voice sounded sceptical, but before Naruto could argue with her Hinata stepped in. "Ano, S-Sakura-san, I t-trust N-Naruto-kun. I-If he s-says that h-he can do it, then I b-believe him."

Hinata had spoken quietly, but there had been an unmistakable hint of certainty in her voice too. Naruto smiled gratefully at her, causing her cheeks to turn pink.

After mulling it over for a few seconds, Sakura agreed to the plan, and using her Byakugan Hinata quickly located Kakashi, just over a mile away to the east.

"Nice work, Hinata-chan!" Naruto praised, looking in the direction she had pointed and missing the Hyuuga heiress' blush. "Ready or not, Kakashi-sensei, here I come!"

-o-o-

Kakashi rammed a kunai into Naruto's stomach as hard as he could, twisting it viciously. Naruto dropped to his knees, shuddered, made a choking sound… and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Kakashi let out a grunt of irritation. So far he had only been attacked by a few groups of clones, but the speed they moved at and the co-ordination they demonstrated with each other was impressive. They seemed sturdier than he remembered too – it was taking a strong hit to dispel the Kage Bunshin and a light tap wasn't enough to dissipate it like it had been in the past.

Another hoard of clones jumped through the air, attempting to pile onto the silver haired jonin. Kakashi made a few quick hand seals. **"Katon:**** Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" **he shouted, drawing a hand in front of his mouth. A huge stream of fire jetted out into a flaming ball towards all the Kage Bunshin in mid-air. A screen of smoke prevented Kakashi from seeing whether his attack had been a success or not, but a series of high pitched popping sounds confirmed that his technique had been on target and he smiled grimly under his mask.

'_Naruto has improved,'_ he thought, pushing chakra into his legs to jump from tree branch to tree branch, trying to put some distance between the blonde haired ninja and himself. He had already had to use the Sharingan eye more than he had anticipated in order to keep himself out of trouble.

In mid leap he heard a rustling of leaves. He looked down quickly to see Naruto running up the trunk of the tree that Kakashi was about to land on, fist drawn back ready for a powerful punch.

Kakashi threw a handful of shuriken at the blonde ninja, forcing Naruto to jump backwards to avoid them and allowing Kakashi to land on the tree branch safely. But then his Sharingan eye picked out a flash of chakra at his feet, and he realised he was standing right next to an explosive tag on the end of a kunai. Naruto must have thrown it, anticipating where Kakashi would land!

"Oh shi–"

A large explosion ripped a hole in the tree branch, leaving a smouldering hollow… and a charred log.

"Stupid Kawarimi," muttered Naruto sourly, jumping up to the blackened tree branch where he had triggered the explosion. "Where the Hell's Kakashi-sensei now?"

"I'm right here, Naruto," called Kakashi's voice. "That was a good try, but you'll have to do better than that."

Naruto looked around in frustration. Where was his sensei? He couldn't see him anywhere, but his voice had been so close.

"Down here, Naruto," Kakashi spoke again, rolling his eyes.

Naruto looked down, and was disheartened to see that Kakashi was still standing on the same bough as him. The copy nin was hanging upside-down on the underside of the branch like a silver haired bat, using chakra to hold himself in place right underneath where Naruto was now standing.

"You'd better hurry up, you know," said Kakashi conversationally. "You've already used more than fifteen minutes. And if Sakura and Hinata aren't here at the moment, that means it's all up to you."

Naruto's dismayed look turned to one of determination. "I'm definitely going to get that bell, Kakashi-sensei," he warned, a stubborn smirk on his face. "You'd better be ready. **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

A swarm of blonde haired, orange clad Naruto's puffed into existence. With a collective shout of, "Get him!" they charged towards the jonin sensei. Kakashi was very glad he had his Sharingan activated, as dodging and countering the attacks of the multiple clones was extremely difficult. Whenever Kakashi actually managed to destroy enough clones to make it easier for himself, the real Naruto would just summon forth another group.

With the clones serving as highly useful distractions, Naruto came extremely close to grabbing the bell hanging from Kakashi's belt on a couple of occasions. Kakashi just about managed to either jump back, pivot his hips away or block Naruto's lunge forward, but he was forced to remain on the defensive almost the entire time.

Eventually, one of Naruto's clones caught Kakashi with a knee to the stomach. Kakashi grunted at the force of the impact and lost his footing on the tree branch. However, Naruto saw too late that this was exactly what Kakashi had wanted, as the jonin rolled off the tree bough, away from the hoard of clones, and landed on his feet on the forest floor, bending his knees to absorb the impact. Moving quickly, a group of clones blocked off Kakashi's passage straight ahead, so the jonin sensei veered to the right, running through the undergrowth.

Naruto grinned. He had done his part by herding Kakashi into position for the trap to be sprung. It was up to Hinata and Sakura now.

-o-o-

After getting into position in a small coppice, Hinata and Sakura had a while to wait. The plan could only take effect when Naruto managed to manoeuvre Kakashi into a more open area, free from densely packed trees. Until then, they had no choice but to remain hidden and stay alert.

With Hinata's Byakugan active, she could keep track of Kakashi's progress and see how Naruto's part of the plan was panning out. She was very impressed by what she had seen from Naruto so far. His Kage Bunshin were manoeuvring Kakashi closer and closer to the trap zone and his taijutsu was both powerful and precise, keeping the copy nin on the back foot.

"How's Naruto doing?" asked Sakura, breaking the silence.

"He's d-doing very well," answered Hinata. "Kakashi-sensei is getting closer. I think he should be here in a f-few minutes."

Sakura smiled. "Thanks, Hinata, keep me updated."

"Ok," the Hyuuga girl agreed, as the two kunoichi lapsed into silence once more.

A minute later Sakura spoke up again. "Hinata?"

The Hyuuga heiress jumped. She had been so focused on watching Naruto and Kakashi fight – Naruto had just used an explosive tag in an attempt to catch the jonin off guard, but Kakashi had manage to evade it by using **Kawarimi no Jutsu** at the last second – that she had almost forgotten about her pink haired ally.

"Um… y-yes, Sakura-san?"

"I just wanted to know… what do you think of Naruto?" Seeing the Hyuuga girl's eyes widen fearfully, Sakura hastily added, "Sorry, you don't have to tell me if you don't want, I was just curious, that's all."

Hinata took a deep breath, trying to overcome her fear. If she could admit her feelings to someone else, maybe she would find it easier to tell Naruto himself someday. "Ano… I d-don't mind, Sakura-san. I… I admire N-Naruto-kun very m-much. I want to f-follow his example and his nindo. And I… I c-care about him…"

Hinata blushed a vivid red as she spoke her deepest secret out loud, feeling very fearful as she watched Sakura ponder her answer. She knew Naruto had at very least once had feelings for the young medic ninja, but she didn't know whether Sakura reciprocated these feelings or not. If she was interested in him romantically, how could Hinata possibly compete with her? She was so confident and beautiful and she had studied under none other than the Godaime herself – no wonder she was recognised as one of the rising stars in both the hospital and on the battlefield.

As Sakura remained silent, the tension and worry inside Hinata rose further and further, until she felt she had to ask the question. "S-Sakura-san… do you l-l-love Naruto-kun?" Hinata waited with baited breath for the other girl's answer, dreading what the medic nin might say.

Sakura sighed and her eyes were downcast as she spoke in a very quiet voice. "Naruto is important to me… like a brother… but the one I t-truly love with all my h-heart is…" her breath hitched, and she fought back tears. "… S-Sasuke-kun…"

Hinata felt two equally powerful conflicting emotions that tightened her chest. Firstly, there was an indescribable feeling of intense relief that Sakura didn't love Naruto. She could remember watching the blonde ninja when he was younger and feeling a crippling sense of anguish whenever he had asked Sakura on a date, followed by an even greater feeling of torment whenever she flatly, and sometimes violently, rejected him. She wanted Naruto to be happy more than anything else, and seeing the look of disappointment on his face whenever Sakura turned down his advances was a crushing blow to her as well as him, even though a small, selfish part of her mind secretly cheered whenever he was cast aside by his pink haired teammate.

But also, Hinata felt a sense of empathy with Sakura. She knew how much it could hurt to love someone that didn't love you back, but she could only imagine how painful it must be to love someone that abandoned, deserted and outright rejected you. The thought of Naruto betraying Konoha and seeking power for his own gain made Hinata feel hollow inside, as though her heart had been ripped out.

"Ano… Sakura-san… why d-do you l-love Sasuke-san?"

Sakura looked shocked for a moment at Hinata's question. "Why do I love him…? I… I just do. I love everything about him. I remember what he was like when he first joined the Academy, before the… incident. He was so cute and he had the happiest smile, but then he stopped smiling… he became sullen and brooding… he focused only on his revenge. I… I just want to be the one to bring out that smile again and make him happy, that's all."

"I understand, S-Sakura-san," said Hinata softly, prodding her index fingers together. "I hope that s-someday you can f-find Sasuke-san, save him from the d-darkness and make him h-happy again."

Sakura smiled at the Hyuuga girl. "Thanks, Hinata," she said appreciatively, "That really helped. And good luck with Naruto, you two deserve someone that will make you happy. Though knowing him, you'll have to spell it out in bright lights before he realises!"

Hinata giggled slightly at Sakura's words, then gasped as her Byakugan eyes picked up Kakashi's movement. "S-Sakura-san, Kakashi-sensei is h-heading this w-way!"

Sakura's eyes glinted with purposeful intent. "Alright Hinata, get in position. Let's show Kakashi-sensei the power of the fairer sex!"

-o-o-

Kakashi felt tired. More than just tired, he felt battered, bruised and downright beaten. Naruto's taijutsu was formidable, even with the Sharingan. He picked his way stealthily through the undergrowth towards a small clearing, making as little noise as possible. He smiled behind his mask as he realised that he couldn't see Naruto or his clones, though he could hear them tramping though the bushes and ferns in an attempt to find him. Kakashi relaxed a little, deactivating his Sharingan. It took a lot of effort to maintain the legendary kekkei genkai for too long and as this wasn't a mission situation Kakashi thought it best to conserve both his chakra and stamina. The noises from the clones was getting fainter and fainter – they had clearly lost track of him, and the fact that he hadn't seen either Sakura or Hinata must have meant that they had chosen to split up to find him, and Naruto had been the one lucky enough to spot him first. Now all he had to do was find a place to hide for the remaining time and come out when the exercise had finished. He might even be able to read a little Icha Icha if he was lucky…

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi saw a blur of movement sprinting towards him. It was Hinata, her right arm pulled back ready for a Jyuuken strike. Thinking quickly, Kakashi leapt backwards. He knew that Jyuuken strikes were very difficult to block successfully, as there was always the risk of having his tenketsu shut. But as he jumped back to avoid the strike, he saw Hinata's strike change direction; her fist was now dipping downwards, towards the ground. With a roar of aggression that sounded nothing like the softly-spoken Hyuuga, the girl's fist hammered into the soil, causing the ground to shake and sending clods of dirt flying in every direction, temporarily blinding Kakashi.

Trying to wipe the dirt out of his eye with one hand he looked around, confused. Suddenly, Kakashi realised that the person he'd thought was Hinata had been Sakura all along. She must have used **Henge no Jutsu** to disguise herself as Hinata, knowing that he would try to avoid the obvious Jyuuken attack by jumping backwards. By blinding him for a short time, she must be ready to hit him with a follow up attack of some sort. The most galling thing for Kakashi was knowing that if he had maintained his Sharingan vision he would have spotted the Henge instantly and known it was Sakura. But regardless, he was impressed with the pink haired girl's cunning. He had fallen for her ploy like a sucker and had been left helpless for a few seconds.

He expected Sakura to continue the attack immediately, before he had a chance to recover, but she made no move to attack him, instead straightening up from her punch and grinning confidently. "It's over, Kakashi-sensei," she said in a teasing voice.

Kakashi frowned, reaching for the bell attached to his waist. His eyes widened as he grabbed only air. How had he lost the bell? He had had it on his belt just seconds ago, he had heard it chiming! It must have been when he closed his eyes, but they had only been shut for a few seconds and he had been in mid-jump at the time. Unless…

Groaning, Kakashi turned around, already knowing what he was about to see. Behind him stood Hyuuga Hinata, a light blush on her face and a small silver bell in one hand. "Ano…" she asked hesitantly, "Does this m-mean w-we win?"

-o-o-

The three ninja quickly found Naruto, who had cheered loudly at the news that Hinata had successfully robbed Kakashi of his bell and praised the Hyuuga heiress for being what he called 'super sneaky,' to which Hinata had blushed rosy red and stammered a denial, stuttering that it had been Sakura that had done most of the work. Kakashi ordered his three young charges to begin packing for the trip to Suna, as he wanted to be back travelling within at very most an hour. As they prepared to depart Kakashi debriefed the team.

"So," he said, grunting as he stuffed his sleeping bag into a bulky rucksack, "Tell me about your strategy. Did it work as planned?"

Sakura smiled smugly. "You bet it did! The idea was for Naruto to wear you down enough that you wouldn't want to use your Sharingan, whilst at the same time manoeuvring you towards Hinata and myself. With her Byakugan, Hinata could keep track of you and tell whether or not you had your Sharingan activated by looking at your chakra flow. We knew that the Henge part of our plan would only work if your Sharingan was deactivated, since you'd be able to see the chakra I used otherwise. By comparing the different fighting styles that Hinata and I use, we could predict how you would defend against them too. The best way to defeat a Jyuuken user is at long range, so by pretending to be Hinata I was able to catch you off guard and blind you momentarily. Meanwhile, Hinata was hiding, waiting for you to be distracted so that she could swipe your bell! Simple, right?"

Kakashi sighed. "Yeah, you three all did a really good job. That plan was executed flawlessly. What would you have done if I'd still had my Sharingan activated though? That Henge would never have worked and your plan would have failed."

Naruto laughed as he rolled up his own sleeping bag. "Easy, Kakashi-sensei. Hinata-chan could keep tracking you with her Byakugan, so we'd still know where you where even if you managed to give us the slip and I could just keep beating you up until you turned your Sharingan off. There was no way you were going to keep it on all the time and tire yourself out just for a training mission!"

Kakashi nodded, satisfied with the answer. "Well, I have to hand it to you three, you worked excellently together. You shouldn't have any issues with teamwork, that's for sure."

Naruto's flung his arms round the shoulders of Sakura and Hinata, one on each side. "Yeah! With our awesome teamwork, the new Team Seven is gonna find Gaara, bring him home safely and kick some Akatsuki ass!"

-o-o-

The rest of the journey to Suna was uneventful, though very tiring, as Kakashi set an even more gruelling pace than he had yesterday. By mid afternoon the terrain had changed from tall, leafy forests to barren, arid scrubland, which soon became devoid of all but the hardiest plants. The temperature increased too, with the desert feeling like a giant furnace, and Hinata was glad that they had all refilled their canteens from the stream in the forest before they left their campsite behind. All four of the group were sweating profusely – Kakashi's spiky silver hair was noticeably drooping and Naruto had taken off his orange jacket in an attempt to cool down, slinging it over his shoulder.

She thought about what Naruto had said just before they had left the camp. He had called the group 'the new Team Seven,' so he must be including her. Did that mean… he was happy to have her on the same team as him? Maybe even… that he wanted her to stay on his team even after the mission was over? Just the thought made Hinata want to squeal out loud. Being around Naruto every day, training with him to get stronger, doing missions with him; that was her idea of bliss. It seemed like an impossible dream to her, but she had learned from watching Naruto that impossible was meaningless so long as she tried her hardest. But she still had her own team; she couldn't just abandon them… Hinata shook her head, trying to get those thoughts out of her head. Maybe she was just reading into the situation too deeply.

Finally, as the sun was beginning to set, the village of Suna came into view over the sand dunes. It was an impressive sight, with imposing walls made entirely out of sand and towering buildings rising into the sky. In Konoha it was rare to see anything taller than two stories, simply because there was so much space available, so the buildings in Suna looked like they belonged to giants by comparison.

As the bedraggled group finally reached the gates, a pair of nervous looking chuunin poked their heads over the wall.

"Halt!" one of them shouted, raising a shaky hand. "State your names and purpose for entering Suna."

Kakashi shielded his eye from the setting sun and looked up at them lazily. "We are the team sent from Konoha to assist you in the search for your Kazekage. I am Hatake Kakashi, and this is my squadron, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Hinata."

After a hurried discussion between the two Suna ninja, the gate was quickly opened and Naruto, Hinata, Sakura and Kakashi entered the Hidden Sand Village. The village looked almost deserted from what Hinata could see. There was no sign of anyone other than the two chuunin, and the village was as quiet as a grave.

One of the chuunin dropped down from the wall to land beside the Konoha ninja, his face pinched and drawn.

"Thank goodness you're here! The village is in a state of panic! Most of the residents are so afraid of the Akatsuki returning that they won't even come out of their houses."

Kakashi got straight to the point. "Who is in charge here?"

"That would be Baki-sama – he is most likely in the hospital, caring for Kankuro. He hasn't left his side except for emergency council meetings."

"What is Kankuro-san's condition?" Sakura asked urgently. "I'm a medic nin, maybe I could help."

The chuunin shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid it's no good. He's running a terrible fever and we can't seem to bring it down. Our medics have tried everything, but they've never seen a poison anything like this. It's hopeless…"

Sakura's voice went frosty. "Not only am I a medic nin," she said coolly, "I am a kunoichi of the Leaf. I am not in the habit of giving up. Now, take me to Kankuro-san."

The Suna chuunin, clearly slightly intimidated by this strange pink haired girl, bowed low to the group and led them through the empty streets. It all felt very alien to Hinata. In Konoha you couldn't walk down a street without hearing the sound of children laughing and playing, or stall owners at the market shouting out the prices of their produce, or customers bartering for a good deal. But here there was no sound at all other than the footsteps of the group, muffled by the sand and the swirling, mournful wind.

The chuunin led them into the hospital, a tall, dome shaped building, and gave them Kankuro's room number, before leaving them to return to his post.

Naruto looked around the reception of the medical centre distastefully. It was all so white and sterile – it just felt _too_ clean to him. He sniffed the air, almost gagging at the smell of disinfectant. "I hate hospitals," he muttered under his breath.

After asking the receptionist for directions to Kankuro's room, Kakashi led the way down the brightly lit hospital corridors towards Kankuro's room. According to the receptionist, he had been placed in isolation from all other patients. Because this poison was completely new to them, they had thought it safest to treat it as though it were infectious, just in case. Not to mention the fact that it was bad for the morale of the village if civilians were to see the extent of his injuries from fighting the people who had kidnapped their Kazekage.

They came up to the thick door of Kankuro's hospital room. Knocking once, without waiting for an answer, Kakashi led the way in, Naruto, Hinata and Sakura following behind him.

Kankuro was lying on a hospital bed, minus his face paint, and there was a thin sheen of sweat over his pale, clammy skin. A team of three healers surrounded him, their faces strained as they pushed a continuous stream of chakra into their hands which they ran over the sleeping puppet user. A thickset man with a veil covering half of his face was watching over the process, a worried frown on his face. He looked up as he heard the Konoha shinobi enter, and a look of relief spread across his face.

"You are the team sent from Konoha?"

"That's us," Kakashi confirmed, studying the unconscious form of Kankuro. "Have you had any luck so far in finding an antidote?"

Baki shook his head slowly, despair etched across his face. "Our healers are doing their best, but we don't know what we're dealing with here. The venom seems to be breaking down Kankuro's red blood cells, and we can't stop it."

Sakura's eyes lit up. "I've heard about that sort of toxin before, in theory at least, from Tsunade-shishou. Let me study Kankuro's condition, I might be able to help."

Baki looked surprised. "You've studied under the legendary Slug Sannin Tsunade? Please, by all means take a look. If you can do anything to save Kankuro I'll be eternally grateful."

Sakura walked quickly over to Kankuro, running a few quick diagnostic jutsus, and within less than a minute she was ordering the other medic ninja around, in complete control of the situation.

"Wow…" Naruto whispered to Hinata. "She really knows her stuff…" Hinata nodded in agreement, slightly in awe of the command Sakura was demonstrating. The pink haired girl was bossing around a team of highly skilled medic ninja over double her age without any argument whatsoever.

"I think we should leave her to it," said Kakashi in an undertone to Baki. "She seems confident enough, at least. It would be best if we talked about any information you have on the Akatsuki now."

Baki nodded wordlessly and led the way out of the door.

**Author's Notes: **Ok, after a minor drought of NaruHina moments in the last chapter, I hope this makes up for it. The 'bell test' scene was a tricky one to write, but I think I did an ok job of it, though fight scenes with multiple people in it are even harder than one-on-one fights. Also, as the interaction between Sakura and Hinata showed, Sakura does have a role to play in this fanfic, even though this story is NaruHina. I'll try to update and write up the next chapter as soon as possible, and if you have any questions or comments feel free to review. If not, that's fine too! Finally, a big thank you to everyone that has read this story so far – if people are still interested at Chapter Five I must be doing something right! Ok, that's all for now, I'll be back as soon as I can, peace out!

**P.S.** Oh, one last thing, now that I've started doing the jutsus I thought I'd better do the translations here too. I'll put any new ones that I haven't included in a previous chapter translated at the end of every chapter

**List of Jutsu:**

'**Fuuin Jutsu: Genryuu Kyuu Fuujin' = 'Seal Jutsu: Complete Nine Illusionary Dragon Seal' **

'**Katon:**** Goukakyuu no Jutsu' = 'Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique'**

'**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu' = 'Shadow Clone Technique' **

'**Kawarimi no Jutsu' = 'Change of Body Stance Technique' **(ie substitution)

'**Henge no Jutsu' = 'Transformation Technique'**


	6. A New Clue and a New Colleague

Chapter Six: A New Clue and a New Colleague 

Shikamaru and Temari exited the restaurant, stepping out into the cool evening air and waving goodbye to Choji, who was staying to have a second helping of his favourite barbeque pork. And a third. And probably a fourth, too. Temari was no longer as shocked by the Akimichi boy's appetite as she had been when Shikamaru had first introduced her to him, when he had eaten the 'House Special' and asked for a second helping, but the way that he never seemed to have a full stomach, even though he munched on endless bags of snack food in between meals, was still downright unnerving to her.

Despite the peasant breeze and the stars twinkling brightly above her, settled against the dusky sky, Temari couldn't help but feel a little irritated that the Hokage wanted to see her again. She was due to leave the next morning and as far as she was aware the report she and Shikamaru had written – well, mostly her – had covered everything the Hokage had wanted to know about the upcoming Chuunin Exams, so why did she need to go and see her? Temari shrugged, putting the matter to one side, and continued walking down the streets of Konoha towards the Godaime's office, bickering as per usual with her companion.

"You do know that Hokage-sama only called for me, don't you?" Temari asked shrewdly as the conversation hit a slight lull, surprised by Shikamaru's decision to follow her and not stay with Choji back in the restaurant. "If it's too 'troublesome' for you, you don't have to come."

"Yeah, it _is_ troublesome," Shikamaru sighed, scratching the back of his neck. "But if she's pissed off at our report or something and wants to call us one by one I should probably get the punishment over and done with now."

Temari glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. He was hiding something, she was sure of it, but for the life of her she couldn't tell what. It was so frustrating. _He _was so frustrating! He was the only person she had ever met that she couldn't _read_. She knew for a fact that she was skilled in studying others psychologically, both in and out of battle, and took pride in her ability to predict their actions and emotional state. But Shikamaru was a total enigma to her. Try as she might, she couldn't get into his head and uncover his thought process. But, then again, she couldn't deny that his unfathomable mind just made him all the more intruiging.

She thought back to the time a week or so ago she had challenged him to a game of shogi, after listening to him lazily talk about how he had beaten his sensei yet again the previous night. He had merely raised a sardonic eyebrow to her challenge, but she had been confident of victory – only Baki ever defeated her in shogi back at home in Suna and Kankuro had actually given up playing against her because he was tired of always being beaten. But to her utter horror and mortification, Shikamaru had completely thrashed her, taking less than twenty minutes to win the game. The bored look of calculation on his face as he had comprehensively defeated her had been unbearably irritating to the Suna kunoichi, pierced only at the very end of the game when a brief flicker of triumph had flitted across his face. The fact that he had then had the gall to offer her _lessons_ in some of the more advanced tactics had been even more humiliating and she had lost her temper, calling him an 'inconsiderate, lazy bastard' before haughtily leaving the room, with her nose held high.

However, after calming down, the next day she had grudgingly apologised and asked if the offer was still open. From that point on, all their lunch breaks had been spent playing games of shogi or discussing tactics, and Temari had to admit she enjoyed these 'lessons' a lot. The Nara boy was a surprisingly patient instructor when teaching her the most advanced strategies he knew and when she had beaten him for the first time a few days ago he had merely nodded approvingly before congratulating her on her victory, much to her astonishment.

Temari brought herself back to the present as they reached the door to the Hokage's office. She paused for a moment, checking to see if her uniform was respectable enough to see the leader of the Hidden Leaf Village before entering, but Shikamaru just stared at her oddly.

"Stop being troublesome and just come on already," he muttered, grabbing her wrist and walking languidly through the doorway, into the Hokage's office. Temari was about to throw a choice retort back at him – though she couldn't help but notice her skin under his hand was becoming very warm – before she saw the face of the Godaime. She looked very grim at seeing the Suna kunoichi – more grim than Temari could ever remember seeing her in any of their previous meetings, even when she had been shouting at Shikamaru to put in his fair share of the work and the desk she had been sitting at had collapsed under the legendary force of one of the Sannin's punches.

"Is there… something wrong, Hokage-sama?" Temari asked cautiously. The Hokage's face became even darker.

"Yes, Temari-san, there is something wrong. Last night in Suna…" Tsunade broke off in mid sentence, rubbing her eyelids tiredly. Looking closely, Temari could see the older woman's brown eyes were bloodshot and had heavy bags underneath them. Had she not slept last night?

Temari felt a dark sense of foreboding. Shikamaru's grip on her arm tightened.

"Last night in Suna… your brother, the Kazekage, was kidnapped by the Akatsuki."

Temari was dimly aware of the Hokage explaining the details of the kidnapping, but her mind had frozen at the Godaime's words. Gaara captured… her little brother captured… It couldn't be… Even in the past, when he had been a bloodthirsty killer, she had still loved him. He had been a symbol of strength in her life. She remembered the assurance she had felt in his abilities when they had competed in the Konoha Chuunin Exams and the pride she had felt at Gaara's formidable record of never being hurt on a mission before. This confidence in his abilities quickly changed to fear for him when it seemed as though the Ichibi was going to completely take over his body. Even thinking about the demon made her shudder. The revulsion she felt at the monster inside her sibling was intense. She hated it, hated it because of how it had made Gaara's life so miserable for so long, and the fact that it had been under her father's orders for the Ichibi spirit to be planted inside Gaara made her sick to the pit of her stomach.

But her brother had overcome all of these trials and setbacks and his transformation from a mentally unstable killing machine into the Kazekage of the village, protecting its people and putting the needs of the villagers above his own, had also been something Temari had treasured wholeheartedly. She remembered the day of Gaara's initiation as Kazekage, how she had watched on with Kankuro from the crowd with tears flowing down her face, revelling in his success like a proud mother.

Gaara… was _gone_. Shikamaru's grip on her arm was almost becoming painful now, and his face was a mask of concern.

Tsunade took a breath, and she caught the Suna kunoichi's eye. She felt very sympathetic to Temari's plight, but mixed in with it all was an overwhelming sense of powerlessness. As the Hokage, all she could do was analyse the information given to her and send others to do the work itself. She was confined to this office, unable to do anything herself. If it wasn't for the medic work that she still did at the hospital she thought she might have gone insane from the feeling of total helplessness that consumed her.

"I'm afraid that's not all, Temari-san," Tsunade continued quietly. Why did the role of 'bearer of bad news' always seem to fall on her? "Your brother, Kankuro, was also involved in the conflict. He has been subjected to a lethal poison, perhaps even fatal, and Suna's medics are at a loss in regards to finding an antidote. I'm very sorry…"

"They… They got Kankuro too?" Temari asked in a quavering voice. She sagged, aghast, and her legs gave way from underneath her. If not for Shikamaru's grip on her wrist she would have collapsed to the floor. The news had been so shocking to her that her body felt completely boneless.

Shikamaru grunted as he tried to pull her up. The cumbersome weight of the fan on her back was making it very difficult to lift her back to her feet and his grip on her wrist was starting to come loose. Not to mention the fact that this position was extremely awkward no matter which way you looked at it.

Luckily the Hokage intervened at that moment, calling out, "Shizune!" Her personal assistant entered the room instantly, gently taking hold of the Suna kunoichi and leading her to a chair, talking softly to her the whole time. Shikamaru smiled at her, both relieved and grateful for her assistance, before pulling up a chair of his own and taking a seat next to Temari. He was worried about her. The Suna girl's reaction showed just how much she cared about her family and it was clearly devastating news to her.

Shizune laid a hand on Temari's shoulder. "I'm sure it will all work out alright, Temari-san," she smiled encouragingly. "Tsunade-sama has already sent a four man squad out to Suna earlier today. One of the team members is Haruno Sakura, one of the top medic ninja in Konoha, and she will help treat your brother. If she can't save him, no-one can. And Uzumaki Naruto is part of the squadron too. He'll do everything he can to recover Gaara-sama and if I know him I'm sure he'll succeed. He seems to do the impossible on a daily basis!"

Shikamaru nodded in agreement. "Yeah, if Naruto's there he won't rest until he's got Gaara back. He may be a hyperactive dumbass but you can always count on him to come through for his friends, that much I'm certain of."

Temari took a deep, trembling breath, bolstered by Shikamaru's words, and smiled back at Shizune, albeit somewhat shakily. She got to her feet again unsteadily. "I… I think I need to get back to Suna," she said in a small voice. "My village needs me… and so does my family."

Tsunade nodded understandingly. "Of course, that's no problem at all. I'm sending a backup team out to Suna tomorrow morning, just in case a combat situation arises. Shall I inform them that you are joining them?"

Temari nodded, still looking very subdued. "Yes, I'd be very grateful for that. Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"If it's alright with you, Hokage-sama, I'll go as well." Shikamaru hadn't even realised he was speaking until after the words had come out of his mouth. Temari gazed at him, wide eyed. Quite honestly, Shikamaru was as shocked as she was at his words. Where had that come from? He never volunteered for extra work. In fact, he made it his number one priority to _avoid_ extra work. What on Earth had prompted him to offer his help?

The Godaime squinted closely at the Nara boy's face. "Are you feeling alright, Shikamaru? I can't remember you ever enlisting yourself for anything but the bare minimum of jobs. What's gotten into you?"

Shikamaru was taking a long, reflective look at himself as well. He pondered for a second, then shrugged. "I guess it's to repay my debt to Temari. She saved my ass against that Sound Four girl all those years ago, so I suppose I'm just returning the favour."

Even as he was speaking Shikmaru was frowning. Was that really the reason? Yes, at least partially. But there was something else too, something he couldn't quite put his finger on… It was as though, rather than feeling obligated, he genuinely wanted to help Temari in her hour of need.

Tsunade smiled a superior smile, raising an eyebrow at him. "Oh, is that so? Well, if it's to repay your debt I suppose I really can't say no…"

Shikamaru's frown deepened. She was teasing him, he was sure of it! And the worst part was he didn't know why!

Temari's gaze was making him feel slightly uncomfortable. There was a mixture of confusion and surprise at his words, but there was also an undercurrent of gratitude in her emotive eyes. Shikamaru tried to relax and keep up his bored facade, thrusting his hands in his pockets.

"You offered to do this… for me?" asked Temari dubiously. She knew Shikamaru had his merits, but his work ethic wasn't one of them.

Shikamaru swallowed. Her eyes were penetrating into his own. He had never realised how bright her eyes were before. "Yeah. For you," he said gruffly.

He was almost knocked off his feet as Temari leapt up from her chair and enveloped him in a bone crushing hug. The wind had been forced out of his lungs and he couldn't speak. As he tried to get his breath back, he could feel the collar of his chuunin jacket becoming damp. Was she crying? The idea was almost impossible to comprehend for him. Temari was the strongest, toughest, most formidable woman he knew, other than _maybe_ his mother. She never cried. A heaving sob shook the Suna kunoichi's body. Yes, there was no doubt about it, she really was crying. Shikamaru tentatively wrapped his arms around her and her weeping intensified.

Eventually Temari recovered enough to accept a handkerchief offered by Shizune and wiped her eyes. They still looked very red and watery. With a muttered, "Thank you," she released Shikamaru and sat down again, her face slightly flushed.

"Are you feeling better now, Temari-san?" inquired Shizune, her concern for the girl in front of her obvious. Hearing the news that both of her brothers were in mortal danger must have been dreadful for the Suna kunoichi to take. "Would you like a drink? Tea, maybe, or something stronger?"

"N-No, I'm alright, thank you. I think I just need to stay sat down, that's all." She turned towards Shikamaru. "About your offer to come with me to Suna… I… I really appreciate it… Will you allow him to escort me, Hokage-sama?"

"I don't think it should be a problem," Tsunade answered. "Now that the preparation work for the Chuunin Exams has been completed Shikamaru doesn't have any upcoming missions. As long as he accompanies you along with the rest of the team I am sending to Suna I don't see why he shouldn't go with you."

"Who else will be travelling to Suna with me then, Hokage-sama?" Temari asked.

Before Tsunade could answer, the window to the Hokage's office burst open, startling everyone. With a joint cry of, "Dynamic Entry!" two ninja clad entirely in green spandex leapt into the room over the Hokage's desk, only narrowly avoiding knocking her off her chair. The taller of the two straightened from the crouch he had landed in and shouted, "Reporting for our new mission, Hokage-sama!" before snapping to attention.

The smaller of the two jumped to his feet. "Yosh! Gai-sensei, our Dynamic Entry technique was a success! We really are at one with the Springtime of Youth!"

"Ah, Lee! Truly you understand what it means to burn with the fiery passion of youthful abandon!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"L–"

Gai and Lee were interrupted from their high-spirited exultations by a knock at the Hokage's door, with two more ninja, one male, one female, entering the room quickly and out of breath, looking as though they had both just been running. The young man wore a white tunic, with long hair styled in a loose pony-tail, whereas the kunoichi had auburn hair held up in elaborate buns.

"Gai-sensei! Lee!" the girl shouted, outraged. "You can't just go barging into the Hokage's office like that, it's so rude! I'm _so_ sorry, Hokage-sama," she added, bowing hastily before the Godaime, face flushed red with embarrassment. The boy standing next to her watched the actions of Gai and Lee with a look of tired resignation on his face, as if he had seen it all before.

Tsunade just sighed. "Well, this will be the team that will accompany you to Suna, Temari-san. Meet Maito Gai, Hyuuga Neji, Rock Lee and Tenten. Gai, your mission will be to escort Temari-san back to Suna and aid Kakashi and his team in any way possible."

Gai nodded, his teeth gleaming in a blinding smile. "Of course, Hokage-sama. We shall leave at dawn tomorrow." He gave a thumbs up sign to his team, which Neji pointedly ignored, Tenten rolled her eyes at and Lee returned with his own raised thumb. "Is this acceptable with you, Temari-san?" Gai added politely, not forgetting their guest.

Temari just blinked dazedly.

"Excellent! Then we shall aim to be in Suna in three days time!" proclaimed Gai, crossing his arms across his broad chest.

"Didn't Kakashi say that he wanted to get to Suna in two days?" Shizune asked innocently. Tsunade's frantic shushing gestures were too late, and Shizune clapped a hand over her mouth, horrified at what she had just said.

"YOSH!" thundered Gai, a manic glint appearing in his eye. "I cannot let my eternal rival outdo me! We shall make it to Suna in one day! No, half a day, or my team and I shall run five hundred laps around Konoha when we return!"

Lee practically cheered at this declaration. Tenten's protestations that such a feat was impossible were drowned out, and Shizune quickly stepped in, hastily leading Team Gai out of the room. She didn't want to have to see another crushed table, and Tsunade had just cracked her knuckles ominously.

Shikamaru exhaled heavily. He had to wonder how Neji and Tenten coped.

-o-o-

Baki opened the door to his office, a spacious, wood-panelled room. He directed Naruto, Hinata and Kakashi to a row of seats in front of his desk, before sitting down himself and pouring each of them a cup of water from a jug on the table. Hinata sipped gratefully, enjoying the sensation of the cool liquid trickling down her parched throat. The water she had gathered from the stream in the woods had been warm and almost all gone after spending the whole afternoon crossing the desert, so this was extremely refreshing.

After taking a sip of water, being careful not to let his mask slip or reveal any of his face, Kakashi leaned in closer to the desk.

"Tell me," he asked, drawing his chair in closer, "Have you any clues as to where the Akatsuki may be heading, or their identities?"

"We don't know the location to which they have taken Kazekage-sama, nor do we know for certain who they were," Baki replied dejectedly. "From what we can guess, the ninja that actually attacked Kazekage-sama was a missing nin from Iwa, known as Deidara. He used some sort of explosive clay that matches his Bingo Book description at very least."

Kakashi frowned. "I've heard of him. He's an S-rank missing nin and the Tsuchikage has placed a huge bounty on his head. I'm not surprised Gaara-sama had a hard time against him."

Baki nodded grimly. "As for the other one, we have no idea. We believe that it was him that fought Kankuro though, so he clearly uses some sort of poison. Aside from that…" Baki shrugged helplessly.

"Are there no leads at all?" Naruto asked, crestfallen. "We have to do something to find Gaara!"

Hinata watched on in sympathy for the spiky haired ninja. She could tell how much losing Gaara was hurting him, but not being able to do anything to save his friend was surely making things a thousand times worse for Naruto.

"I understand yor concerns," Baki answered in a low, gloomy voice. "Gaara-sama was once my student, and knowing there was nothing I could do when watching him fight to protect the village against the Akatsuki was excruiciating. But, until we have a lead on the Akatsuki's whereabouts, I fear there is nothing we can do…"

"Where did Kankuro actually fight this Akatsuki member?" Kakashi asked, a thought striking him. "It's possible there could be some clue as to their whereabouts from the battlefield."

"The scouting team recovered Kankuro at the top of the largest sand dune to the north of the village. I don't know what you're hoping to find though – the squad reported nothing but Kankuro's broken puppets remained."

"One of my team possesses the Byakugan," Kakashi answered. "If there's anything to discover, I'm sure she will find it." Hinata blushed at the jonin's compliment and Baki turned his gaze on her.

"How far can your Byakugan eyes see?" he asked curiously. "Could you conduct a thorough search of the whole area from inside this room?"

Hinata pushed her two index fingers together nerously. "Ano… i-if it's not too far away… I'll t-try."

Naruto grinned encouragingly at her. "You can do it Hinata-chan!"

"Um…thank you, Naruto-kun," Hinata stammered, cheeks tinged pink but truly thankful for his support. "I'll d-do my b-best." Forming a seal with her hands and gathering her chakra, Hinata muttered, "Byakugan!" and the veins around her eye sockets bulged. Her sight faded into shades of grey and became hugely magnified, enabling her to see every knot and whorl in the wood panelling on the walls of Baki's office. Taking a deep breath, Hinata focused her vision, and her perspective of the room changed to an overhead view. Now she could see each individual hair on the heads of Naruto, Kakashi and Baki in striking detail. She expanded her view outwards, leaving the room behind, and now she could see the whole of Suna from a bird's-eye view, giving her a slight sense of vertigo. Supressing her dizziness, she spotted the dune that Baki had been talking about and homed in on it. It was almost at the limits of her Byakugan's range, and she began to sweat with the effort of seeing such a long distance away. She had already used her clan's kekkei genkai a lot that day on the trip to Suna, and was running a little low on chakra. She gritted her teeth from the strain, but pushed her Byakugan still further. Now she had a clear view of just above the sand dune, and could see the fragments of Kankuro's various puppets lying on the dusty ground, half buried by the accumulation of the windswept sand. Methodically she searched the surface, looking for anything unusual. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she strengthened her chakra flow to her eyes, allowing her to penetrate the top layer of sand and see anything buried. After a few minutes Hinata was about to abandon the search, but with the peripheral vision of her Byakugan she saw the arm of one of Kankuro's puppets, buried almost three feet down into the desert. And in its fist, it was holding a piece of fabric with a cloud pattern on it!

"Kakashi-sensei!" Hinata gasped. "I think I s-see something! Buried under the sand, one of Kankuro-san's puppets has piece of cloth in it!"

"Alright Hinata-chan!" Naruto cheered, thrusting an arm in the air and leaping out of his chair, beaming at her. "I knew you were the best person to ask to come on this mission with me!"

Kakashi was instantly alert. "Excellent work Hinata, I'll take it from here." He bit into the flesh of his thumb, drawing a small dribble of blood, and made a few quick hand signs. Slamming his hand down on the floor, he shouted,** "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"** With a puff of smoke, a small, brown furred, pug-like dog appeared by Kakashi's side, a Konoha hitai-ite tied around its neck.

Hinata jumped back, startled, as she heard the small dog speak in a deep voice. "You summoned me, Kakashi?"

Kakashi nodded soberly. "We have a serious situation here, Pakkun. The Kazekage has been kidnapped by the Akatsuki, but we think we've got a lead. Buried in the largest sand dune to the north, directly outside the village, there is an arm of a puppet with a scrap of what we believe is a piece of Akatsuki robe. Can you find it and bring it back here as soon as possible?"

"Sure, no problem, with my nose I'll easily be able to sniff it out. I shouldn't be longer than an hour." With that, the canine jumped onto the desk and leapt out of the open window of Baki's office. As the pug dog left the room, Baki and Kakashi started whispering intently together. From what Hinata could hear, they were discussing how many Suna ninja would be sent out to track down the Kazekage with Kakashi's team, and which shinobi in particular would be a good fit into their squad.

Letting out a shaky breath, Hinata released her Byakugan, ending the strain on her chakra. Using her eyes so much in a single day had been very difficult, and she was breathing heavily with the effort of maintaining her kekkei genkai at such a distance.

"Ne, Hinata-chan, are you ok?" Naruto asked, noticing how she had slumped in her chair. "You look kinda pale and you've gone all sweaty."

If she hadn't felt so tired, Hinata would have laughed at Naruto's usual blunt but caring tactlessness. "I'm ok, Naruto-kun, r-really."

"Are you sure?" the blonde haired boy asked dubiously. "You don't look so good to me…"

Hinata shook her head. "I've just overused my Byakugan today, that's all. I only need to r-rest a l-little to restore my chakra reserves."

Naruto pouted, clearly unsatisfied, and pondered her answer for a moment. "Nope," he proclaimed, grinning mischievously. "I think we should get you checked out by Sakura-chan, just in case it's serious!"

"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata's cheeks tinged a faint pink out of embarrassment. She was touched by his kindness, but was already feeling a little better now that her Byakugan was inactive. "We shouldn't disturb Sakura-chan with something this small, she's v-very busy! I'm fine, honestly!"

Naruto's grin just grew wider. "If you really are ok, then it'll only take a minute for Sakura-chan to make sure. And if you aren't, then you definitely need some medical help. I'm not taking no for an answer here, Hinata-chan, so let's go!" Turning to Kakashi, Naruto interrupted the silver haired jonin's discussion with Baki. "Hey, Kakashi-sensei, I'm just taking Hinata-chan down to the medical bay again, she's not feeling very well."

Kakashi waved a hand carelessly. "Sure, that's fine. Make sure you're both back here in an hour, for Pakkun's return."

"Sure thing Kakashi-sensei," Naruto agreed, and before Hinata could protest any further, Naruto dragged her by the hand out of Baki's office and towards the medical bay. He wondered if maybe she was feeling ill after all. Her face had gone very red all of a sudden…

-o-o-

Sakura browsed through the greenhouse, looking for the right ingredients for an antidote for Kankuro's poison. It had been tricky, but she'd managed to withdraw most of the toxins from his body. However, the puppet user was still in danger if she couldn't neutralize the remainder in his system, so she had commissioned the use of Suna's herbal stores.

Sakura let out a small hum of satisfaction as she found the final ingredient she had been looking for, a white flower with closed petals, growing in a small pot. She had to admit that she was very impressed with the quality and stock of herbal medicine ingredients here in Suna – they were almost as good as back home in Konoha. Careful not to damage the frail buds she snipped off three of the blossoming flowers with a small set of pruning shears and added them to the bag containing all the other components needed for the antidote. Pleased that she had everything she needed, she stepped out of the swelteringly hot greenhouse, closing the door behind her, and headed back towards Kankuro's hospital room.

It was barely less warm outside the greenhouse than inside, despite the sun now having almost completely set. Suna's climate was very warm and sunny for the entire day, all year round, and temperatues only really dropped late at night. Sakura walked quickly through the warm evening air, wanting to return to her patient as soon as possible, when she heard a voice from further ahead cut through the quietness of the street.

"Look, there she is! Hey, Sakura-chan, over here!"

Sakura looked up to see Naruto running towards her, waving with his left hand and with Hinata's palm clasped tightly in his right. Even at a distance and in the darkened twilight streets Sakura could see that the Hyuuga girl was blushing a shade of red that would put a cherry to shame.

"Naruto? What are you doing here?" questioned Sakura. "Does Kakashi-sensei want to see me?"

Naruto laughed. "Nah, it's nothing like that. I just want you to check that Hinata-chan's ok, that's all. She was feeling a bit tired after using the Byakugan a lot today, so I thought it'd be best if I took her to see the expert!"

"Oh? Are you not feeling well, Hinata?" Sakura asked, studying her professionally. "Hmm… you don't seem to be showing any outward signs of chakra depletion… your face seems a little red though… maybe I should run a few quick tests, just to be certain."

Naruto quickly stepped out of the way to let Sakura do what she needed to do, letting go of Hinata's hand as he did so. Hinata missed the contact immediately and had to supress the urge to let out a disappointed sigh. Her hand felt so cold and small now that his own was no longer enclosing it.

Sakura ran a few quick diagnostic jutsus and came to the conclusion that for the most part she was perfectly fine. "Just don't activate your Byakugan for at least a few hours and you'll be perfectly alright," she told Hinata. She placed a few pills in the palm of the Hyuuga heiress. "Swallowing these should help replenish any chakra you've lost a lot quicker too."

"Thank you, Sakura-san," Hinata answered thankfully. "I hope we didn't d-disturb you."

"Nonsense, it's no problem," Sakura smiled cheerily. "But you –" she turned to Naruto, a threatening look on her face. "If you were so worried about Hinata, what were you doing running about and dragging her around?"

Naruto raised his hands in a feeble attempt to ward her off. Laughing nervously he backed away as Sakura began to stalk towards him. "Sakura-chan, c'mon. We went to the hospital first, but you weren't there. One of the Suna medics told me where you were, and I didn't want to miss you – I just wanted to find you as soon as possible so you could see to Hinata-chan, that's all, I swear!"

Sakura remained silent, but her raised fist was all the answer Naruto needed. He gulped. He remembered her brute strength from the past, and had felt the tremor that Sakura's punch had triggered in the forest yesterday. He had no desire to experience first hand how much stronger she had become in the years she had been apprenticed under the Hokage.

Luckily for him, Hinata timidly spoke up at that moment. "Ano, it's alright, Sakura-san. N-Naruto-kun just w-wanted to find you quickly, that's all. I know he d-didn't mean any harm."

Sakura considered the shy Hyuuga girl's words, then huffed, lowering her fist. Naruto let out a sigh of relief.

"Ok, fine," the pink haired medic relented. "But if I hear you've been doing something stupid like that again, you're _history._ Got it?"

"Geez, you're scary when you're mad, Sakura-chan," Naruto whined.

"I said, _'Got it?'_"

"Ok, ok, I got it!"

Shooting an exasperated look at her blonde haired teammate, Sakura shook her head and headed back towards the hospital, darkly muttering something about 'Naruto-baka' and 'punch through a wall.'

Naruto gave an exaggerated shiver, drawing a small smile from Hinata. "And I thought Sakura-chan was scary _before!_ She's more frightening when she's angry than Tsunade-baachan now!"

Hinata giggled softly at his brashness, but Naruto's face went pensive. "I probably would have deserved it if she had hit me though. Sorry, Hinata-chan, I guess I really wasn't thinking. It was really stupid of me to drag you around like that. Sakura-chan was right – you could have been hurt and it would've been my fault if I'd made it worse."

The saddened look on Naruto's face made Hinata want to stand up for him. "Naruto-kun, I don't m-mind. You were doing your b-best, like you always do. I feel… I feel happy that you w-wanted to help me."

At first Naruto was slightly taken aback by her statement, but then a pleased smile spread across his face. "Oh, thanks Hinata-chan. Most peope would have shouted at me for doing something stupid like that, but I guess you're too kind to do that. And you stood up for me in front of Sakura-chan too – you really are awesome!"

Hinata blushed at his enthusiasm but felt very light all of a sudden, almost as though she were floating. Naruto had always had the ability to increase her confidence with just a few words; she couldn't help but smile at his praise of her.

"Well, I guess we should follow Sakura-chan back to the hospital now," said Naruto after a moment of comfortable silence. "I hope Kankuro's doing better now."

Hinata nodded her agreement and Naruto grinned at her, drawing a small tinge of red to the Hyuuga heiress' cheeks. Naruto reached for her hand, before remembering Sakura's warning and withdrawing it hastily.

"Ah, sorry, I forgot," he said sheepishly, slightly red faced, as was Hinata. The Hyuuga girl nodded in understanding, pushing her index fingers together in the way that she always did when nervous, but watching Hinata's face, Naruto thought he saw a flicker of emotion in her pale eyes, like ripples on a pond. Was it… disappointment?

Hesitantly, Naruto held out his hand again, offering it to the quiet Hyuuga girl. Her hand looked so small and dainty in comparison to his own, like it would shatter and break into a thousand pieces if he wasn't gentle with it. He wasn't certain he was doing the right thing by any means, and his palm had suddenly gone all sweaty for some reason, but he wanted to see that smile of hers again. He really liked the way that it had seemed to light up her face with a radiant glow and now he found that he wanted to see it again.

After Naruto had withdrawn his hand in the first instance, Hinata was internally berating herself. She had been longing for any sort of connection with Naruto, emotional or physical, and she had passed an opportunity up. _'I should have just grabbed his hand, grabbed it and never let go,'_ she thought to herself angrily. _'That was my chance to show him how I felt, and I was too afraid to act…'_

But Hinata's disappointment quickly changed to shock as she saw Naruto extend his hand towards her again, a bashful expression on his face but questioning her with his deep, sapphire blue eyes. Hinata wasn't going to pass up a second opportunity, and shyly wrapped her fingers around his, feeling the small scars and calluses on his knuckles and palm. She blushed a fiery red as she did so, but she couldn't help but notice that Naruto's face was faintly pink too, an embarrassed grin on his face directed at her that shone as brightly as a sunbeam. Hinata timidly smiled back and his grip around her hand tightened ever so slightly.

-o-o-

Baki and Kakashi walked through the hospital corridors back towards Kankuro's room. The Suna jonin had put forth a large number of ninja to be at Kakashi's command if he so wished, but the copy nin had rejected this proposal.

"We need to be as stealthy as possible on this mission, so extra bodies will probably get in the way," he had said languidly. "We want to avoid a full scale battle with the Akatsuki if at all possible and if worst comes to worst we have a backup team from Konoha on its way as we speak. Bringing an army might also send out the wrong message – Konoha doesn't want to start a war over this incident."

Baki had nodded his agreement to this. It was too dangerous to start any form of heavily armed conflict with the Akatsuki at this early stage, not when they had so little knowledge about the group. Still, Suna's acting leader had offered any additional support to regain the Kazekage that Suna could give and Kakashi had thanked him.

"In truth," the silver haired jonin had admitted in a low voice, "I think we'll need any help you can give us. If we're taking on the Akatsuki head on, even if it is only two members, we'll need every ounce of cunning and firepower at our disposal, without translating into an entire army."

Baki and Kakashi re-entered the hospital room to see Sakura hard at work, grinding a mixture of herbs with a mortar and pestle, before tipping the stringy juice she had extracted into a small cup, evidently wishing for the unconscious puppet user to drink it.

Kakashi cleared his throat, drawing Sakura's attention. "I hope we aren't interrupting you Sakura, but Baki-sama wanted to see if Kankuro's condition had improved. Is there anything you can tell us?"

Sakura finished pouring and wiped her hands on a cloth. "Kankuro-san's condition has improved dramatically. His temperature has dropped to almost regular levels since I extracted the poison and any immediate threat is over. I think he may even regain conciousness soon, and swallowing this medicine that I'm preparing should flush out the rest of the toxins in his system. He will still be very weak though, so he should stay in bed for at least a few days to allow himself to make a full recovery and he'll need to keep taking this medicine for a day or two at least."

Baki let out an audible sigh of relief, a huge show of emotion for someone as skilled at remaining calm and collected under pressure as himself. "Thank God for that. Thank you, Sakura-san, I am truly grateful to you."

Sakura smiled at the praise, but before she could answer Naruto and Hinata walked through the door, though somewhat awkwardly, talking happily and not paying attention to their surroundings. Kakashi noticed that the two of them were holding hands, but the doorway was too narrow to let two people standing abreast of each other pass through. Neither of them seemed to be willing to relinquish their grip, and so they had to enter the room by walking sideways, like a crab.

Looking up, Hinata suddenly blushed bright red as she realised that the entire room was looking at the two of them and let out a squeak, dropping Naruto's hand as though an electric current had just passed through it. Naruto just stood in the doorframe, looking bemused by the fact that he was suddenly the centre of attention.

However, this didn't last long as there was a tapping sound at the closed window of the room. Pakkun was standing on the window ledge, scraping at the glass with a paw, and there was a spindly looking wooden arm enclosed carefully in his jaws. Sakura quickly rushed over to the window and released the latch, allowing Pakkun to squeeze through the frame and into the room.

"I gok wha oo arked, Kakaffi," he announced in a muffled voice, the puppet arm in his mouth preventing him from speaking clearly. He laid the wooden appendage on the floor carefully, flexing his jaw to work the stiffness out of it. "Ah, that's much better. My tongue is covered in splinters now."

"Excellent work, Pakkun," said Kakashi, stooping to analyse the puppet limb and looking closely at the scrap of red and black cloth snagged on it. "Have you been able to track where the scent leads?"

"Of course," Pakkun answered, holding his head up proudly. "Your target is located in Kawa, between Konoha and Suna, on a large river. I can't be more specific than that as of yet, but I can draw out a quick map for you if you like."

Naruto scrunched his face up. "You can draw?" he asked sceptically. "But you've only got stubby little paws."

The ninja hound let out a small, displeased growl. "Yes I can draw. In fact, amoungst my canine brethren I'm considered quite the draftsman."

Naruto struggled to keep a straight face at the idea of the little pug dog as an expert artist. "How do you reckon he holds his paintbrush? In his mouth or in his paw?" he whispered to Hinata, who suppressed a giggle in response.

Pakkun shook his head. "I get no respect around here," he complained to no-one in particular, shooting a sour look in the direction of Naruto.

Kakashi just smiled. "You've done very well Pakkun, you don't need to worry about that. Once you've finished drawing out the map, can you take this information to the backup team headed our way from Konoha?"

Pakkun nodded. "Sure, anything to get away from that blonde headed clown over there. See you later, Kakashi." With a flick of his tail and a skittering of paws on the hospital floor, the diminutive dog dashed out of the open door past Naruto and Hinata…though not before giving the orange clad ninja a small nip on the ankle as a goodbye. The spiky haired boy's curses followed him out through the door as the ninja hound chuckled to himself, searching for a piece of paper.

-o-o-

'_W-Where am I…?'_

As Kankuo slowly drifted back into conciousness, the first thing he noticed was that he felt unbearably stiff, as though all his joints had locked up. The next thing he realised was that he was lying down on something soft – a mattress, with sheets. His touch seemed to be functioning well enough. How about his vision?

With an effort, Kankuro cracked opened his sleep crusted eyes a fraction and immediately wished he hadn't. Bright spots danced in front of his eyes and it felt as though someone had just rammed a burning hot pin into each eyeball. If he had been able to he would have groaned as his head throbbed with an intense pain. Still, the fact that he could even feel the pain at all was a miracle – he thought he'd been a goner after being poisoned by that Akatsuki man.

Sight was very much out of the question for now, so he decided to remain lying still and see if he could move his body. He attempted to flex his fingers. It hurt like Hell, but he was able to twitch them very slightly. He wriggled his toes. Same reaction. Kankuro was really confused now. How on Earth was he conscious? He shouldn't even have been alive after the effects of the poison had begun to take hold, let alone awake.

As his body began to feel less sluggish, he slowly became more aware of his surroundings. He could hear a loud, irritated voice coming from a person fairly close to him – in the same room, in fact. Unable to do anything else, Kankuro lay back and listened.

"… kill that freaking dog! I'll shove a **Rasengan** up its ass! I'll –"

"Calm down, Naruto," interrupted the relaxed voice of another person. "It's not like you're seriously hurt." Kankuro suddenly felt very alert. Uzumaki Naruto was here?

"Are you kidding, Kakashi-sensei? He could have bitten my leg off! My whole life flashed before my eyes!"

Kankuro heard an exasperated sigh. This time a female voice spoke up. "Stop over exaggerating, Naruto. The worst you could get from a dog bite would be rabies, and I'm sure Pakkun has been innocula –"

"Rabies? You're telling me I've got rabies? Oh man, what am I gonna do?" wailed Naruto.

"Naruto, shut up!" yelled the female voice authoritatively. You haven't got rab – oh, I think Kankuro-san is awake!"

Kankuro risked opening his eyes again at this. His vision was still blurry, but at least the light wasn't sending bolts of agonizing pain into his skull anymore. A pair of arms held his shoulders and positioned him in a seated position. Kankuro focused and the face of a pink haired girl swam into view.

"Kankuro-san," the girl said firmly. "Can you hear me?"

Kankuro nodded. Too much effort to speak.

"Good. I've extracted the majority of the poison from your body and prepared a medicine for you to purge the remainder. Here, drink this." She passed Kankuro a small cup with a foul smelling green liquid contained in it.

Kankuro threw the medicine down his throat in one gulp, grimacing at the disgustingly bitter taste. "Thanks," he rasped, voice gravelly from going so long without speaking.

Before Kankuro could react, a pair of strong arms wrapped around Kankuro in a powerful bear hug. Kankuro looked down in shock. "Baki-sama?"

His former jonin-sensei released him and stepped back, smiling. The veiled man poured a glass of water out from a jug on Kankuro's bedside table and handed it to the puppet nin, who gratefully accepted it. "Kankuro, you're awake! How are you feeling?"

Kankuro tried to cleanse his mouth of the foul tasting medicine by swilling the water around his mouth. "Lousy," he answered after swallowing. "But I know I could be feeling a lot worse right now. That Akatsuki guy was out of my league…"

"What sort of techniques did he use?" asked the silver haired man standing just behind Baki. "We don't know his identity, so any clues you could give us would be a big help."

'_Identity…' _Kankuro thought._ 'Oh, that's right!' _

"I already know who he is," he answered, straightening his seating position against the headrest of the hospital bed. "He told me just as he left. He said he was Akasuna no Sasori."

Baki's face drained of all colour. "You're certain it was him, Kankuro?" he whispered piercingly, with an undertone of fear. "Absolutely positive?"

Kankuro nodded, understanding his former sensei's worry perfectly. He had heard the rumours about how Sasori had crafted an entire marionette army for Suna, all of his own design, before he had left the village. He was said to have been a genius in the art of puppetry even from an early age and his skills could only have increased since he had joined the Akatsuki.

Baki sighed heavily. "This changes everything. Sasori is quite possibly the strongest ninja to ever come out of Suna. We can only guess at how strong he must be now…" The acting head of Suna made a snap decision. "I'm going down to the well to talk to Chiyo-baasama. If anyone is suited to taking on Sasori, it would be her. Kakashi-san, would you be willing to accept her onto your team?"

Kakashi stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Her reputation certainly precedes her, though she must be rather old by now. Do you really think she would be able to keep up?"

Naruto, listening on in confusion, butted into the conversation. "I don't understand," he said, forehead creased in a frown. "Who is this Chiyo lady? And why is she being chosen for this mission?"

"Chiyo-baasama is one of the elders of our village," Baki answered. "She may be old now, but she was the one that taught Sasori the art of puppetry in the first place. She would definitely be the person I would recommend be put forth on the behalf of Suna for this mission."

Kakashi nodded. "If you think she would be the best fit for this mssion, then I have no qualms about adding her."

"Kakashi-sensei… what about me?" Sakura asked hesitantly. "I still need to look after Kankuro-san. The medicine I prepared was highly complicated – even one small error and the anti-venom would have failed, and I'm the only one able to make it in the village. Kankuro-san still needs at least two more doses of antidote to completely break down the poison, and I will have to prepare them from scratch again. If I'd had more time maybe I could have made a whole batch at once, but…"

Kakashi frowned underneath his mask. "I see… well, it seems as if we have no choice but to push on as quickly as possible, so we can't afford to wait around. As soon as Pakkun has drawn up his map and we've met up with Chiyo-baasama we'll have to get moving, there's no time to waste. If you really can't leave Kankuro, we'll just have to go on without you…"

Sakura was clearly disappointed, but answered with a resigned, "Ok, fine."

"Hinata, Naruto, I recommend you get some sleep for a few hours," Kakashi continued. "We will be leaving before dawn, so make sure that you're both well rested. There were some chairs in the hospital reception. I'll collect you both in about two or three hours, and then we'll be set to go."

Sakura watched on as Naruto and Hinata nodded their assent and left the room, single file this time, and sighed. Collecting her thoughts, she followed them back out of the room, heading for the greenhouse again to create another dose of medicine for Kankuro. She may not have liked it, but she knew her duty.

-o-o-

"Y-You! You're the White Fang of Konoha!"

Kakashi would have denied this accusation if he could, but he was a little preoccupied dodging the elderly woman's onslaught of punches and kicks that had a surprising amount of force behind them considering her age and size. _'Appearances aren't everything when considering an opponent, after all,'_ reflected the silver haired jonin as he ducked under a vicious cross-armed chop.

Reacting quickly, Kakashi managed to catch the woman's fist as she attempted to hit him with a solid left hook. Baki, overcoming his initial surprise after bringing the Suna village elder back to his office, grabbed hold of her other arm.

"What is the meaning of this, Chiyo-baasama?" he asked angrily. "Kakashi-san is an honoured guest of our village!"

The elderly kunoichi tried to squirm her way out of the Suna nin's grip and get another shot at Kakashi. "This man killed my son!" she shouted, her voice cracking with emotion.

"I think you must be mistaken, Chiyo-baasama," Kakashi responded helpfully. "You called me Konoha's White Fang, but that isn't who I am."

"Liar!" Chiyo screamed, fighting against the grip of the two men. "You look exactly like him, I know it!"

"Peace!" Baki roared, startling both Kakashi and Chiyo. "Chiyo-baasama," he continued in a quieter voice, "I realise that Kakashi-san does bear a passing resemblance to that man, but you are mistaken. The White Fang of Konoha died years ago."

Kakashi kept his face impassive as he heard his father mentioned, but the great man's death still saddened him. He had idolised the White Fang when he had been alive and it was his example that he now followed, after going through a period where he had rejected his father's nindo. Thinking back to the mission that had brought back his faith in the path that his father had followed brought up other painful memories… Obito… Rin… Minato-sensei…

Chiyo blinked confusedly at Baki's words and squinted hard at Kakashi, scrutinizing him thoroughly. Suddenly, she let loose a peal of laughter. "I see, I see! I'm not really old and senile at all, I was just pretending!"

Kakashi and Baki just stared at her, nonplussed.

Recovering from his bewilderment, Baki coughed into a closed fist. "Chiyo-baasama, do you remember why I called you here? I wish to admit you into Kakashi-san's team to locate and recapture our Kazekage."

Chiyo snorted contemptuously. "Yes, I remember why you called me, but I'm not interested. In my old age, I've lost interest in Suna affairs. If we depend on other villages to handle our own business then it is no surprise that our own village has become weak. We must rely on ourselves before we rely on others. In my old age, all I wish is to see my grandson again, one last time… and that's all!"

Baki merely smiled, much to Chiyo's surprise. "Well, that works out well for all of us then. One of Kazekage-sama's kidnappers was Akasuna no Sasori."

Chiyo's eyes widened and her wrinkles seemed to become less pronounced as she let a wistful smile pass over her face. "My little grandson… it's been so long…" Then her eyes hardened. "If I get the chance, I'll make sure to kill him."

-o-o-

The lights were out in the hospital's reception, and the receptionist had left for the night, leaving the room in darkness. Only the ninja medics were still active at this late hour.

Hinata was curled up on a chair, sleeping soundly under a woolly blanket that Naruto had found in one of the supply cupboards. There had only been one sheet in the cupboard and Hinata had felt bad taking it when he was the one that had found it in the first place, but Naruto's joking offer of 'sharing' it with her had made her timid protests die down, replaced by a vivid scarlet blush that covered her whole face.

Naruto was leaning back in his own chair, snoring slightly with an open mouth. The pool of drool overflowing from the corner of his mouth and the occasional mutterings of, "Mmm… ramen…" made it fairly clear that he was immersed in a dream.

Suddenly the lights fickered back on, jerking the two sleeping ninja out of their slumber. Hinata blinked rapidly to adjust to the unexpected bright light, whilst Naruto toppled off his chair with a shriek, tumbling to the floor. Looking up groggily at the doorway, he saw Kakashi and an elderly woman that must have been that Chiyo lady Baki had been talking about.

"Rise and shine, sleepyheads," said Kakashi in a cheery voice. "It's time to leave."

**Author's Notes: **Damn, this chapter was difficult but fun to write! Gai and Lee are just twenty-four carat comedy gold, and the interaction between some of the other characters was very entertaining to me. I'd like to say thanks to the reviewers of Chapter Five, particularly Perpetual159 and beargeek15, because their reviews made me laugh. I also got my first question, from Shikamaru Uchiha, asking about how closely I'll be following the canon. I'm not absolutely certain, to be honest. I've got a vague plan of future events, but it's by no means set in stone, though there will certainly be at very least some changes from canon. However, I'm trying to keep it at least along the original lines of the plot – think of this story being like a reinterpretation of events if just one thing had changed. I hope that answers your question for you. Finally, if anyone has any more things they want to ask me, or suggestions to give, feel free, I'm more than happy to listen. If there is such a thing as more than happy, that is. Would it be called super-happy? Anyway, before I go off on a rambling monologue I'd better leave it here. Thanks for reading and I'll try to update soon. Take care, bye!

**List of Jutsu:**

'**Rasengan'** **'Spiral Sphere'**

**P.S.** One last thing, just for the Hell of it, at the end of each chapter from now on I'm going to put a joke that I found funny the first time I heard. Maybe it's kinda lame, but hey, the whole reason anyone's reading this is to be entertained, right? Hope you guys enjoy it!

**Joke Corner:**** The most common owl in Great Britain is the teet – as in the teet-owl.**


	7. Stalling Tactics

Chapter Seven: Stalling Tactics

With Shikamaru and Temari in tow, Team Gai dashed through the treetops at breakneck speed. Gai had decided that since they were still in the Fire Country's borders and the mission had already technically started it would be best to sacrifice stealth for extra speed. Other than one brief fifteen minute rest to refill their canteens they hadn't stopped all day and were making impressive time. The importance of the mission was underlined by the fact that no-one, not even Shikamaru, had complained about the pace they were setting.

Temari's face had been set in lines of hardened determination for the entirity of the trip so far. Not only had she been keeping up with Gai and Lee, the 'pace setters' of the group, she had actually been pushing them to go faster. Gai looked like he was struggling to hold back another exultation on the 'power of youth' at the speed she was spurring the rest of the group onto, but was just about managing to contain himself.

After several hours of this Tenten was beginning to feel the strain on her muscles, but gritted her teeth and forced herself onwards, maintaining the same punishing speed that she had before. However, the ever observant Neji noticed her falling further and further away from the front of the group and dropped back to talk to her.

"You are clearly tired," he observed in his usual cool voice. "It would be best if we took a short break to enable you to recover your strength."

Panting, Tenten shook her head. "No, I'm fine. We have to get to Suna as soon as possible and I can't slow the team down."

Neji arched an eyebrow at her. "In the long run, taking a break would be less time consuming than continuing when fatigued. It would make far more sense to stop now."

"I've already told you, Neji, I'm fine!" Tenten retorted angrily. "I'm not so weak that I can't keep up, so stop acting as if I'm holding everyone back!"

Neji's eyebrow raised still further as he ducked under a protruding tree branch. "I had no intention of implying that, Tenten. I do not consider you any weaker than either Lee or I. I was merely attempting to increase the chances of success on our mission, that is all."

Tenten's shoulders sagged. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you. But really, it's alright, I can keep going."

A small smile rose to Neji's lips. "In light of your stubborness, I am forced into taking drastic action. I apologise in advance."

"Huh? Neji, what are you –?"

Neji sucked in a deep breath. "Gai-sensei!" he shouted out, startling Tenten. "I feel it would be best if we stopped for a break. Tenten's…" he paused for a moment, not quite sure how best to phrase what he was thinking "… _Fires of youth_ are growing dim, and she… ahem, needs a chance to _rekindle her youthful spirit_."

The expression on Neji's face as he had said this was as though he had swallowed a whole lemon, but it got its intended reaction.

"Yosh!" came Gai's distant voice, far ahead of the two young ninja. "A short break will be the perfect way to stoke the embers of Tenten's vigour! We shall find a spot to take a short rest."

Neji turned to look at Tenten with apologetic eyes. What he had just done had been cruel, but it had done the trick. Tenten's own expression was outraged, but she was fighting back a smile at the same time.

"Neji! How could you? That was so mean!"

Neji smirked ever so slightly at her words. The self-confident look on his face made Tenten want to yell out in frustration and the way that the smirk seemed to grow in size ever so slightly indicated that he knew it. Tenten growled. He could be so… so _infuriating_ at times, with poise and assurance that bordered on arrogance. She wished that once, just once, she could knock him out of his stride and see that aloof, smug expression of his slip from his face.

Before she could ponder this course of action any further, she and Neji caught up to Gai-sensei, who had dropped to the forest floor in the middle of a small copse of trees. "This will be a fine setting for a short break," he said, looking around the clearing and nodding with satisfaction. "Everyone make sure you perform the standard warm down exercises to prevent cramp. Lee and I will patrol the perimeter and we shall set off again in fifteen minutes."

Lee straightened his posture and gave a smart salute. "Yosh!" he barked out enthusiastically. "Gai-sensei, shall we do the entire patrol on our hands?"

Gai laughed a deep, booming laugh at his favourite student's eagerness. "Patience, Lee. We are on a mission, and must not let our youthful fires burn out of control. But when we return to Konoha we shall run one hundred laps around the village on our hands! And if we are unable to do that, then we shall do five thousand one handed press-ups!"

Lee had pulled out a notepad and pencil from a pocket of his chuunin jacket and was hurriedly scribbling something down, with his tongue between his teeth in a look of concentration. "Must… not… let… youthful… fires… burn… out… of… control. I see, Gai-sensei, you are indeed a most wise teacher. I will be sure to take your words to heart."

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

The rapturous cries slowly faded into the distance as Gai and Lee left the group to begin their patrol. There was a collective sigh of relief from the remaining members of the group as the two spandex clad ninja jumped back into the treetops and launched themseves through the canopy with a rustling of leaves.

Closing his eyes, Neji settled himself in a crosslegged, meditative position in the middle of the clearing and Tenten sat down beside him, wincing as she lowered herself. Shikamaru walked to the edge of the copse and lowering his aching body to lie against the trunk of a thick tree with his hands interlocked behind his head, whilst Temari, too agitated to sit down, paced around the open space with a nervous energy.

"Ugh, _finally,_ a break," Shikamaru groaned tiredly. "I'm too exhausted to even watch the clouds – I need a nap." With that, the Nara boy's body relaxed and his eyelids drooped shut.

"You can't just go to sleep!" Temari yelled incredulously at him, face flushed red with anxiety and anger. "We have to get back to Suna right now! We shouldn't even be taking a break at all – we should be going all out to get to the Hidden Sand Village, not taking an afternoon nap!" In her frustration, she raised a hand above her head and brought it down, intending to jerk Shikamaru out of his slumber with a painful blow to the head. However, her fist was caught in midair by one of Shikamaru's hands, taken out from under his head with surprising speed.

"You need to calm down," said Shikamaru, with one eye lazily opened. "I know it must be difficult for you, but I don't think I could have gone much further without needing a break anyway. Tenten and Neji look worn out too. There's no point us getting to Suna if we're all too tired to help anyone."

Temari tore her hand free from Shikamaru's grip. "That doesn't matter! We have to get back as soon as possible! If something else happens whilst I'm not there…" Temari's voice cracked at the end, and it was taking her a great deal of effort not to break down in tears.

Shikamaru rested his hand on her shoulder, which was shaking with the effort of repressing sobs. "Remember what we talked about in shogi lessons," he said in a low voice, trying to calm her down. "If you rush in without having a clear plan of action and don't prepare for every eventuality, you'll make mistakes. The best way to avoid messing up is to _think ahead._ If you do that, then everything will fall into place." Shikamaru smiled at the Suna kunoichi. "Remember, you're not the only one trying to get Gaara back."

Tenten walked over and placed a confident hand on Temari's other shoulder. "Shikamaru's right. We're all going to do everything we can to track down and rescue your brother – you, me, Shikamaru, Lee, Gai-sensei, Neji. Right, Neji?"

Without speaking, Neji cracked open one eye and nodded his own support. Tenten laughed. "You see, Temari? If we can get a stick-in-the-mud like Neji to go along with this, then there's no way we'll fail to save your brother! When Gai-sensei and Lee return we'll be back on the trail again and we'll try even harder to get to Suna as quickly as possible!"

Temari smiled weakly at the Konoha kunoichi, who smiled back at her. Shikamaru grinned slightly himself, released Temari's shoulder and rested against the tree trunk again, looking forward to some quick shut eye. But suddenly a voice interrupted Shikamaru's rest, coming from right above his face.

"Yo."

Startled, Shikamaru's eyes jerked open to see a small, brown furred dog, with the symbol of Konoha etched into a hitai-ite around its neck, gazing right into his eyes with its face just an inch away. Shikamaru gave an uncharacteristic yelp and jolted upright, scooting backwards to put some distance between them.

"I know you!" said Shikamaru in recognition, focusing on the pug dog's face. "You're that troublesome tracking dog Kakashi-sensei uses. You were called Parky or something. You bit me the last time we worked together!"

"My name is Pakkun, thank you very much," said the tracking dog disapprovingly. "And yeah, I remember you too. But we can get all nostalgic about the past another time – you're all part of the backup squad sent from Konoha, right?"

"Yes," answered Neji, standing up and stepping to the front of the group to talk to the canine. "Did Kakashi-san send you to deliver us a message?"

Pakkun nodded. "He told me to tell you not to head directly for Suna, but to follow me instead. We've discovered the scent of one of the Akatsuki members, and my nose has tracked them to a lake in Kawa. I'll be your guide."

"Do you know if my brothers are ok?" asked Temari desperately. This was the first solid contact from Suna she had received since the Akatsuki attack, and the urge to find out if her family was safe was all encompassing. "I heard one of them was poisoned by an Akatsuki member – is he alright now?"

"Do you mean the puppet user?" Pakkun asked, quirking his head to the side. "From what I heard the pink haired medic girl on Kakashi's team healed him up and he should make a full recovery."

Teamri slumped to the ground, leting out a shaky breath that that hadn't even realised she had been holding. An indescribable feeling of relief spread throughout her body, like a pleasurable sensation of pins and needles, and some of the weight on her shoulders was lifted. She was still worried, particularly for Gaara, but at least it wasn't outright panic.

Pakkun's nose suddenly twitched. "There are two scents heading this way. I recognise one of them as Maito Gai's. Is he being chased?"

Tenten grimaced. "If the other scent is Lee's, then probably yes. But don't worry about it – knowing Gai-sensei, if he wasn't being chased he'd probably be disappointed."

Pakkun grinned wryly. "Yeah, that sounds a lot like Gai."

At that moment, Gai and Lee dropped from the treetops into the clearing with identical gleaming smiles, their patrol completed.

"Ah!" exclaimed Gai, noticing Pakkun. "In our absence, it seems I have missed the arrival of an old friend! That was most unyouthful of me! Pakkun, the only way in which I can express my remorse and apologise to you is by running two hundred laps around Kono–"

"That won't be necessary, Gai," interrupted Pakkun. "I was telling the rest of your squad there has been a change of plan. Instead of heading directly to Suna, your team will be going to Kawa instead. We believe that's where the Akatsuki's base is located. Follow me, I'll guide you."

"Yosh!" shouted Gai, his smile widening. "How exhilarating! Lead the way, Pakkun, and we shall follow with the diligence of youth!"

Pakkun nodded and the six ninja followed him as he leapt up into the shade of the treetops. Temari balled her hands into fists as she focused intently on the small dog ahead of her, leaping from branch to branch. _'Hold on, Gaara,' _she thought, clenching her fists even tighter. _'I'm coming.'_

-o-o-

Kakashi, Naruto, Hinata and Chiyo made good time over the steep sand dunes of the desert, setting off in the early hours of the morning and making it to the edges of the barren scrubland by mid-afternoon. The landscape became more and more green the further they travelled, and by the evening they had reached the thick woodland of the forest.

As they travelled, Hinata thought back to the conversation she'd had with Sakura before the group had departed. The medic nin had come to see them off, and Sakura had dragged her away from the rest of the group before she had left to talk to her in private.

Hinata vividly remembered the hurried, anxious voice that Sakura had spoken in. "Hinata," the pink haired kunoichi had whispered, wringing her hands together with worry. "I wish I could go out on this mission with you! I feel so useless staying behind and doing nothing!"

"Sakura-san, you aren't doing nothing. Kankuro-san owes his l-life to you."

"I know, I know! It's just…" Sakura's fists clenched, and she let out a sigh. "I feel like I'm missing out on a chance to find Sasuke."

"F-Finding Sasuke-san?" Hinata asked, confused. "I don't understand… What does Sasuke-san have to do with the Akatsuki?"

"Sasuke-kun left Konoha to train under that snake bastard Orochimaru, right?" Sakura answered, a vein bulging on her forehead as she spat out the Sannin's name as if it was poison. "Well, Orochimaru used to be part of the Akatsuki himself. Which means…"

"There may still be some connection between the Akatsuki and Orochimaru!" Hinata finished excitedly.

Sakura nodded. "Exactly. But I feel like I'm missing a chance to get closer to Sasuke-kun by not being a part of this mission…"

The young medic kunoichi's eyes had looked so downcast that Hinata couldn't help but try to cheer her up. "Ano, Sakura-san? If you'd like, I could try to f-find a link between the Akatsuki and Sasuke-san myself. M-Maybe I will be lucky and discover something."

Sakura's emerald green eyes widened in shock. "Hinata, you'd really do that for me? You'd really try to find any sort of clue as to where Sasuke-kun might be?"

With as much deterination as she could muster, Hinata answered, "Yes!"

Sakura's eyes had grown even wider, before she had smiled tremulously and given Hinata a quick hug. As she released Hinata from the embrace, Sakura's eyes were watery, but she brushed the welled up tears away impatiently. "Thank you Hinata, that means so much to me and I know that Naruto would appriciate it too. Good luck on your mission." Sakura turned and began to walk away, before adding as an afterthought, "Oh, and take care of Naruto as well!"

-o-o-

As the landscape became more rocky, Kakashi eventually found a spot by a small cave that would provide adequate shelter for them to rest the night, and the group settled down beside a small camp fire.

"I think it would be a good idea if two of us keep watch tonight, rather than just one," said Kakashi, scratching his chin lazily. "We're getting closer to Akatsuki territory, so it pays to stay alert."

Hinata pressed her fingers together anxiously, worried that she wasn't doing enough for her team. "Ano… I w-will be one of the lookouts for tonight, if you'd like, Kakashi-sensei."

Hinata couldn't help but feel a tiny bit disappointed that before Naruto could volunteer himself forward, Chiyo spoke up herself. "Then I will also volunteer myself forward, Kakashi-san."

Kakashi nodded his agreement to the arrangement and before long he and Naruto were fast asleep in their sleeping bags. Hinata couldn't help but watch Naruto as he slept, sprawled out across the ground. He looked so peaceful and calm with his tousled hair and closed eyes, quite unlike his usual hyperactive self when he was awake, and as she watched he curled himself up in his sleeping bag like a small child, pulling the material securely around him so that only his head was sticking out. It was almost unbearably cute to Hinata and she could hardly bring herself to stop gazing dreamily at his sleeping form.

With great reluctance Hinata tore her eyes away from the slumbering Naruto, but as she looked up she was surprised to see Chiyo looking wistfully at the blonde haired boy too, a peaceful expression upon her face.

"Ano, Chiyo-baasama?" Hinata asked curiously, watching the elderly woman as she studied Naruto's sleeping form. "I-Is there something wrong?"

"Hmm?" mumbled Chiyo, still gazing at Naruto's face. "Something wrong…" Snapping out of her reverie, she raised her head up to face Hinata and answered quietly, "No, nothing is wrong. Nothing at all…"

"O-Oh," stammered Hinata timidly, blushing at her previous boldness. _'What Chiyo-baasama is thinking is none of my business,' _she thought to herself, lowering her eyes. _'I shouldn't be prying into her thoughts like that.'_

Hinata watched Chiyo's head droop back to its former position, and the elderly Suna kunoichi lapsed into a brooding silence. Taking a deep breath in an effort to strengthen her resolve, Hinata spoke again, in a quavering but determined voice. "I d-didn't mean to intrude, Chiyo-baasama, and if I did I humbly apologise. I was just c-curious… as to why you were w-watching N-Naruto-kun sleeping, that's all."

Chiyo stayed silent for a moment, her head remaining bowed, before suddenly asking Hinata a question. "Tell me, Konoha kunoichi, you are a Hyuuga, are you not?"

Caught of guard by the unexpectedly direct question, Hinata hesitantly answered, "Um… y-yes."

Chiyo laughed delightedly at her response, rocking her head back and forth. "I see you were serious about being humble! In the Great Ninja War I fought against many Konoha shinobi, including members of the Hyuuga clan, but I don't think I've ever once heard any of them ever say the word 'humble' even once!"

Hinata flushed pink at the Suna elder's words. "My family is… ah, v-very proud."

Chiyo chuckled. "That is how I remember them, certainly. But as to what you just asked…" Chiyo trailed off into silence, and Hinata began to wonder if she had chosen not to answer the question, or even if she had fallen asleep, when the older woman clapped her hands together. "Where was I…? Ah, your question, of course. I was looking at that boy because he reminded me of my grandson."

"Oh, I s-see… sorry, I didn't mean to invade your privacy."

Chiyo's eyes softened at Hinata's meekness and she smiled gently at the Hyuuga heiress. "Don't worry, I understand. My grandson had a very difficult life. His parents were both killed by Konoha shinobi in the Great Ninja War when he was just a child and I raised him myself. He left Suna several years ago, and I haven't seen him since…"

"Oh," Hinata said softly, gazing at the deep wrinkles in Chiyo's face, made even more pronounced by the darkness. The elderly Suna kunoichi's eyes were downcast, and Hinata couldn't help but empathise with her. "You said you f-fought in the Great Ninja War yourself, didn't you?"

Chiyo nodded shortly. "Yes. It was brutal and bloody. You are too young to have fought in a full scale war, aren't you? I hope for your sake that you will never have to… And that my grandson won't be followed by more innocents having their lives unravelled."

Hinata shivered as a burst of cold wind whistled through the cave's entrance. "I don't want to fight either…" she said quietly, drawing her jacket closer to her body to fend off the chill, "But as shinobi we don't have a choice when it comes to war. I think, unless things change, there will always be anger and hostility somewhere. So if there's n-no other choice it's important to have s-something to fight for." Hinata looked back across to Naruto, still sound asleep. "That's what I b-believe…" she finished, her cheeks tinged with pink.

"So what is it that you fight for?" Chiyo enquired curiously. This girl was strangely shy and honest all at the same time, and the Suna village elder didn't quite know what to make of her.

"M-Me?" Hinata asked. "Ano… I suppose I fight for my family. I f-fight for my teammates. I fight for my sensei. I fight for the people precious to me… because…" Hinata drew her back up straight, glancing over at Naruto again. "Because that is my nindo."

"Hmm…" frowned Chiyo thoughtfully, scratching her cheek with one hand. "That's an interesting nindo you have…"

Hinata tried to think what Naruto would say in this situation. He was always so sincere, no matter who he was talking to, and the Hyuuga heiress was certain he would know how to cheer the older woman up. "I l-learned it from s-someone v-very special to m-me, who w-wanted to spread his n-nindo," she stammered, heat rising to her face. "M-Maybe, if you see your grandson again, you could t-tell him that you fight for him too?" Hinata prodded the tips of her index fingers together nervously, uncertain whether she was saying the right thing.

Chiyo considered these words for a moment, then smiled serenely, thinking back to her grandson in his youth. "Thank you, Hinata-san. When I next see my grandson, I will be sure to tell him that. And…" the elderly Suna kunoichi paused for a moment, rubbing her chin slowly. "If it's not to late for me, I think I may begin using that nindo myself."

-o-o-

"We have a problem."

"Problem?" asked Pain in a monotone, continuing to watch as Gaara's limp body floated in the air, a red haze surrounding him. "Elaborate, Zetsu."

Zetsu's plant-like appendages surrounding his head cracked apart ever so slightly, revealing the Akatsuki member's eyes. "Two teams of Konoha ninja are approaching the hideout at rapid speed. One team is led by Maito Gai, and the other is commanded by Hatake Kakashi."

"Hmm…" Pain thought for a second, his silvery eyes glowing in the murky darkness of the cave. "How long do you expect until they arrive?"

"Before we have completed the ritual."

Pain frowned. That made things a little more complicated than he had expected. It seemed that precautionary action would have to be taken. He spoke carefully, making sure to seem completely unruffled by this news. After all, a leader had to remain strong in front of his subordiantes. Especially when those subordinates had some of the most devious minds in the ninja world. Any sign of weakness would surely be pounced upon. "That is… unfortunate. It seems we will have to use _that _jutsu in order to complete the ritual in time."

"You said Maito Gai was one of the ninja closing in?" asked Kisame, a hint of malicious excitement in his voice. "I'll volunteer – I still have a grudge against that man, after he fought against me back in Konoha."

Pain inclined his head. "As you wish. Does that mean you will also be a subject of this jutsu, Itachi?"

Itachi's red eyes were burning coals, set against a hollow, lifeless face. "If that is your decision, Leader-sama."

Pain made a few hand seals, maintaining his focus on the extraction of the Ichibi. "For this jutsu to be successful, I will require approximately thirty percent of each of your chakra."

Kisame and Itachi complied, letting their chakra build, and Pain skilfully siphoned the required amount off. "That will be enough. Maintain your focus on the extraction process; your new bodies will act independently."

Kisame grinned, licking his grey lips. "If our aim is just to stall them, that means I get to play with my food before I go in for the kill… I'm going to enjoy this."

-o-o-

Jumping from tree branch to tree branch, Kakashi mulled over the progress the group had made so far towards the Akatsuki base. He was satisfied with the pace that the group had been setting – Chiyo hadn't slowed them down at all, despite her age, and the terrain had been fairly easy to negotiate. Making some quick calculations in his head, the copy nin estimated that they should reach Kawa in an hour or two and the Akatsuki's base not long after that. He wasn't certain if Pakkun had reached the backup team from Konoha yet, but he was confident in his team's abilities regardless. Naruto and Hinata had shown their skills in his training exercise on the way to Suna, and Chiyo was well known for her exploits in the last ninja war, both on and off the battlefield.

Kakashi's thoughts were cut short, however, by Hinata's raised hand from the front of the group. Her Byakugan was active and she looked concerned about something. Raising his own hand, Kakashi signalled for the rest of the team to halt, and they dropped to the forest floor. "What's the problem, Hinata?" asked Kakashi authoritatively. "Are we being followed?"

"N-No," Hinata stammered, pushing her fingers together worriedly. "There's a man up ahead with developed chakra pathways. He's blocking our r-route forward. What should we do?"

"Developed chakra pathways?" Naruto repeated, puzzled. "Does that mean he's a ninja?"

"Most likely," answered Chiyo, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. She turned to Hinata. "Those eyes of yours are very useful, girl. Can you see what he is doing?"

Hinata blushed at the praise and nodded hesitantly. "He's standing in a clearing about half a mile ahead. I think he's w-waiting for something, as he isn't m-moving… could it be for us?"

"We must assume so," Kakashi replied, frowning. "If he isn't moving, release your Byakugan for now, Hinata. Hopefully we can just avoid him by taking another path if he's dangerous." The masked jonin pulled aside his hitai-ite from his left eye and activated his Sharingan. Who on earth would be out here in the middle of nowhere? Could it be a trap of some sort, set up by the Akatsuki to prevent unwanted guests from discovering their centre of operations? Focusing his Sharingan eye, Kakashi quickly spotted the man that Hinata had warned them about and felt a chill of dread pass through him as he saw who it was. The last time they had crossed paths he had put the silver haired jonin in hospital.

With a sigh, Kakashi deactivated his Sharingan, a disturbed expression written across his face. "Well, we can't elude this man, that's for certain. He's much too strong for us to pass by unnoticed. In fact, I'm almost positive that he knows we are here already."

"Huh? Who is he?" Naruto asked, face scrunched up in confusion.

"Uchiha Itachi."

Hinata gasped as she heard the infamous name and Naruto's face went stony. For just the briefest of moments the Hyuuga girl could have sworn that Naruto's eyes flashed crimson. The blonde headed ninja looked absolutely furious – Hinata didn't think she had ever seen him this angry, not even when he had been fighting Neji in the Chuunin Exams. Although she didn't know the full story of the Uchiha massacre that had taken place several years ago, she knew that Sasuke was the only survivor and that Itachi was the murderer. A man cold blooded enough to ruthlessly slaughter his own family… Hinata shivered, gazing at Naruto with sympathetic and worried eyes. She knew of his friendship with Sasuke and this man had been the cause of the younger Uchiha's quest for power, and thus his decision to leave the village. _'How will Naruto-kun react when he faces the person that Sasuke-san wants revenge on?'_ she wondered fearfully.

"Him…" Naruto hissed under his breath, almost to himself. Without another word he started striding purposefully forwards, a fiery intent flickering in his eyes.

"Naruto, wait!" ordered Kakashi, laying a hand on the spiky haired boy's shoulder. "Let's think things through before doing anything reckless."

The blonde haired ninja paused for a moment, his entire body quivering with emotion. Naruto's voice was thick with barely controlled anger, but he managed to reign his fury in. "Sorry. I didn't mean to lose my temper… it's just…" he clenched his fists so hard that his skin went white.

"I know Naruto, believe me," Kakashi said seriously, squeezing the orange clad boy's shoulder. "But if we're going to be fighting someone as strong as Itachi, we need to stay cool. Flying off the handle at a time like this is not only going to put yourself at risk, it will endanger the lives of your teammates too. Remember that."

A look of guilt settled on Naruto's face like a raincloud, sending a pang through Hinata's heart. She could see how much it was hurting the boy she cared about, but she didn't think there was anything she could do to help him. This was to do with Sasuke and she didn't really know how to help Naruto with something that she wasn't a part of.

"Ok," Naruto sighed quietly, releasing all his pent up tension. "I understand."

Kakashi smiled approvingly at his pupil, before turning to include Hinata and Chiyo. "Everybody, please listen closely. I have experience in fighting Itachi in the past, so I know a little about his techniques. Firstly, make sure that none of you look at his eyes. His Sharingan can unleash powerful genjutsus onto anyone that makes eye contact with him. Secondly, when fighting him using taijutsu you can't risk catching his eye, so focus on his feet and body to predict his movements. Finally, remain close together at all times. If Itachi does manage to capture you in one of his genjutsus, another person can break you out of it by disrupting your chakra flow with their own chakra."

Chiyo nodded at this last point. "Since there are four of us, it is unlikely he will be able to trap all of us in a genjutsu. If even one of us avoids the technique they will be able to attack from the rear or free their teammates and we will have the upper hand."

"Alright then," said Naruto, features set in grim lines of determination. "In that case, let's take him head on!"

After pondering for a moment, Kakashi voiced his agreement of this strategy. "We don't have anything to gain by attempting to remain hidden and a full on assault would be the fastest way to break through. Keep in mind what I told you all and good luck!"

-o-o-

Tenten leapt over a dried out desert shrub without breaking her stride. Neji and Lee were either side of her, with Gai and Pakkun out in front and Shikamaru and Temari bringing up the rear. The terrain had become craggier and dustier as the group had progessed into a steep sided valley. Looking around, she supposed that there must once have been a river here that carved such a path into the rock face, but it had long since dried up under the harsh, unforgiving sun.

Suddenly Tenten stumbled, just as Pakkun's nose begn to twitch. The kunoichi frowned. The ground had vibrated under her feet and knocked her off balance, she was sure of it. Was it an earthquake?

The ground began shaking again, more violently this time. Tenten steadied herself and the other members of the team tried to keep their footing too. A low rumbling noise began, faintly, but becoming louder and louder. Pakkun's nose quivered again. "Something's coming from the rear!" the little dog announced, turning his head to look behind him in the direction they had just come from, where a small dust cloud was approaching rapidly.

Neji activated his Byakugan, veins at the side of his eyes bulging. "There is a man approaching at rapid speed…but he's coming from underground!"

Sure enough, the earth behind the group was fragmenting at an alarming rate. Tenten saw something white sticking out of the ground moving towards them before the swirling dust blocked it from sight. As the ground continued to cave in, Gai shouted an order and the team fell back, jumping onto large outcroppings of bare rock to avoid the tremors.

Reaching behind her back, Temari unfurled her fan and swung it round forcefully, blowing the stinging, blinding dust away in a gust of wind. As the air cleared, a tall, grey skinned figure with slitted cheeks became visible standing on top of the rubble, and Gai's eyes widened in recognition, his bushy eyebrows rising together. "You! I've seen you before… Who are you?"

The man laughed mockingly, and hefted a large sword onto his shoulder with a careless flick of his hand. "Oh, you don't remember me?" he asked playfully, a feral smile stretching across his mouth. His teeth seemed to glint in the sunlight. "Perhaps I should refresh your memory." With that, he threw his massive sword high into the air and performed a few quick hand seals. **"Suiton:** **Bakusuishouha****!"** He inhaled sharply, cheeks bulging, before blasting out a jet of foaming water upwards in a gigantic, cascading wave. Tenten gasped. It was as though a building had just uprooted itself from the ground and launched itself towards her, such was the size and speed of the raging torrent. The arcing mass of water seemed to block out the sky for a split second, before plummeting down towards the members of Gai's team with a thundering roar.

-o-o-

Itachi stood completely still in the middle of the clearing, making no effort to hide himself. That wasn't the plan – his orders were simply to stall Kakashi's team, not ambush them. Briefly, he wondered if Kisame would be quite so mindful of their leader's orders when facing his opponents. The Sharingan weilder almost smiled. Somehow, he doubted it.

Using his kekkei genkai, Itachi could clearly see that Kakashi and the rest of his team had spotted him and were huddling in a group, obviously discussing how they would attempt to fight him. Itachi wasn't worried though. This was still wasting precious time and he was confident he would be able to stall them for long enough. However, he was slightly surprised to see the group, rather than attempting to split up and bypass him, were actually staying together as a single team and heading straight for the clearing themselves. Interesting. They must have came up with some sort of strategy they thought would be able to neutralise him.

Kakashi's team walked through the trees and into the clearing, lining up purposefully alongside each other. Itachi scrutinized his enemies thoroughly. Hatake Kakashi, the well known copy nin and a dangerous opponent. A girl with the Byakugan eyes, clearly a Hyuuga. An elderly woman in a black tunic. And Uzumaki Naruto, the Jinchuuriki container of the Kyuubi. Itachi remained on his guard, but was not overly concerned. Not that he ever was, no matter who his opponents were.

For a few long seconds no-one spoke, the tension in the air rising further and further. Eventully, Naruto broke the silence.

"You…" he growled, hands clenched into fists and teeth grinding against each other.

A ghost of a smile flitted across Itachi's lips. "Hello, Naruto-kun, it's been a long time. I wonder, have you become stronger since we last met?"

**Author's Notes:** Ok, that's Chapter Seven down! I was tempted to keep on writing at this point, but this chapter was starting to get a little long and I thought it would fit more neatly into another chapter, so you'll have to wait for the Itachi and Kisame fights. Sorry! The review from Schnookums (who has given me a lot of input so far, which I really appreciate – thank you Schookums!) was an interesting one. I'm trying to buid up Naruto and Hinata's relationship slowly, but yes, Naruto is just starting to get an idea of her feelings for him, though not their extent, yet … and I haven't really picked out any pairing for Sakura yet, though I have an idea of where I want things to go with her, so if anyone has any suggestions I'd at very least listen to them. But Sakura and Kankuro is pretty much a no go, sorry – a lot of the story isn't going to be set in Suna and so won't involve Kankuro all that much. and some of the character interaction in this chapter was really tricky. It took me a while to get the Neji/Tenten and Hinata/Chiyo dialogue up to the level I wanted, but I think it's of a satisfactory quality now. If not, or if you think any other part of the chapter is crap, don't hesitate to drop me an angry review! Or, y'know, nice reviews would be appriciated too. Anyway, thanks to everyone that's read up to this point, I hope to update again soon. Until next time, ciao!

**List of Jutsu:**

'**Suiton: Bakusuishouha' = 'Water Release: Bursting Water Collision Surge'** (thanks again to Chewie Cookies, who had to correct me on this one)

**Joke Corner:** **Teabags aren't really bags, seeing as you can't put anything in or take anything out of them. They should be renamed 'tea-cushions' instead.**


	8. The 'Phoney' War

Chapter Eight: The 'Phoney' War

The roaring wall of water forced Gai's team to retreat further to avoid it crushing them and Kisame took the initiative. Standing atop the massive wave and catching his sword again in one hand, he comfortably maintained his balance as the water hit the ground with a low booming sound, sending spray flying everywhere. Within an instant the dry, arid valley had been transformed into a huge lake.

"Pakkun, stay back," commanded Gai, settling into a taijutsu stance and keeping his eyes fixed on the shark-like man on the water's surface. The small tracking hound did as requested, leaping up the side of the valley, out of range of the impending fight. Gai nodded, satisfied. "Everyone else, stay on your guard. To create a lake of that size using only a single Suiton jutsu means that he must have a huge store of chakra! Now, let's go!"

Before the water's surface had even settled, Lee and Gai moved in tandem, vanishing in the blink of an eye. Launching himself forwards, Lee attacked first with a volley of powerful punches and kicks, keeping Kisame on the defensive. Gai was close behind, giving the Akatsuki member no time to create an opening for himself to swing his mighty blade. The swordsman blocked the attacks from both taijutsu experts with ease using his free hand, but was unable to find an opportunity in which he was able to make an attack of his own. The two spandex clad ninja were keeping so close to him that he couldn't swing Samehada around and he was forced to wait for an opening.

Hissing in frustration, Kisame blocked a powerful elbow strike from Lee using the spiked blade of his sword. He was forced back by the power of the blow but grinned widely at the sight of Lee's ripped uniform and bloody arm. However, before he could regain his balance, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a cluster of shuriken heading right towards him, thrown with unerring precision by Tenten. Ducking into a crouch, the shuriken passed just over his head, but again the ninja swordsman had no chance to regain his footing as a cry of, **"Hakke Kuushou!" **sent a blast of air at him, sending him sprawling across the surface of the water.

Neji lowered his raised hand, satisfied with the contact his attack had made. Gai-sensei had drilled his students into the habit of not letting their opponents rest for even a second and to keep battering at their defences with controlled, co-ordinated attacks, preventing their enemies from obtaining any sort of momentum. The strategy seemed to be working well so far, but Neji knew that it was far too early in the fight to take anything for granted, and settled back into a Jyuuken stance.

Kisame finally managed to straighten himself up, glaring at the Konoha ninja and Temari. "You pesky small fry… you're getting in my way…"

Snapping her fan open to its maximum size, Temari shouted back, "That's just what I was going to say! **Fuuton: Dai Kamaitachi!"**

The swing of her fan whipped up a powerful, cutting whirlwind, the air slicing apart as it whistled towards Kisame, sending up a spray of water. Kisame gritted his pointed teeth, using chakra to anchor himself to the surface of the lake he had created, and held his weapon in front of his body to take the brunt of the attack. With a mighty heave, the Akatsuki member swung his sword around and the cutting effects of Temari's jutsu were diverted to either side, the blade acting as a windbreaker.

As the mighty gale settled down, Kisame smiled ferally. "Nice try, little girl, but Samehada is sharp enough to cut through even the air! Your little breeze won't work on me." Making a few quick handsigns, Kisame clasped his hands together. "Now it's my turn!** Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

From the surface of the lake, five tendrils of water slowly rose and coiled together, but all of a sudden their upward progress halted and they fell back into the lake with a splash. At the same time, Kisame found that he could no longer move his body even an inch. It felt as though he had been completely paralyzed.

With an effort, he turned his head to the side, and saw the tall, lanky ninja at the back of the group with his hands clasped together, an intense look of focus on his face and the shadows from the overhead sun pooled around his feet. Looking down at his own body, Kisame could see these shadows stretched out in a line from his own body back to the kid.

Shikamaru slowly unclasped his hands. "**Kagemane no Jutsu, **success."

"Excellent work, Shikamaru," smiled Gai, walking up to Kisame's rigid body. "Now, who are you and why are you here?"

"Still don't remember, eh?" remarked Kisame, sounding completely unconcerned, despite being captured and surrounded. "You really are infuriating."

Shikamaru grunted at the sudden strain placed on his jutsu, and Neji's eyes widened as his Byakugan vision picked up the spike of intensely powerful chakra emanating from the Akatsuki member. "Everyone, get back!" the Hyuuga boy shouted in warning, jumping away from the shark-like man himself as he spoke. "That chakra is too strong to contain!"

Shikamaru's jutsu was indeed not strong enough to keep a grip on the ninja swordsman and the shadows released Kisame, retreating back to Shikamaru as the jutsu was overwhelmed. Kisame rolled his shoulders, working the stiffness caused by Shikamaru's jutsu out of his body, then straightened and smiled. "Now, where were we?"

-o-o-

Itachi stood completely still on the edge of the forest, carefully watching the faces of his prospective opponents, searching for a weak spot. His eyes lingered on the elderly Chiyo for the longest, wondering if he could use her age against her somehow, before dismissing the idea. Age meant experience, after all, and the way that the Suna kunoichi was focusing only on his feet and body made him fairly certain that she must have fought against an Uchiha in the past at some stage.

As the tension cranked up further and further, Naruto flexed his fingers and blinked away the cold sweat that was trickling down his forehead. Where had that come from? Just a minute ago his skin had been bone dry, but under the cold, unnerving gaze of the Uchiha genuis he felt like he was going to lose his mind. Naruto growled under his breath. He was letting Itachi psyche him out before the fight had even begun! Taking a deep breath, the orange clad shinobi tried to calm himself down. He could do this. Itachi wasn't so tough. Kakashi-sensei and the rest of his team were there to make it four against one. So why did he feel so nervous?

Before he could think any further, Kakashi barked out, "Naruto, cover me!" and rushed forward towards the Akatsuki member, Sharingan eye gleaming and a kunai gripped in his right hand. Attempting to banishing all his previous fears and doubts now that the battle had begun, Naruto reached into the pouch attached to his leg and hurled a brace of kunai at Itachi's right, preventing him from dodging the copy nin's attack in that direction. Itachi shimmied to the left, easily avoiding Naruto's weapons, and with a flick of his wrist a kunai was in his own hand too. A loud clash of steel on steel was heard as Itachi diverted Kakashi's forward lunge with his own blade and the Uchiha traitor continued the momentum of his parry, smoothly flowing into a powerful counterstrike and slashing in a fluid downwards motion. Kakashi jerked his head back to avoid it, taking care not to look directly at Itachi's face, and threw his kunai into the Konoha missing nin's chest, where it lodged firmly. But before Kakashi feel any sort of triumph the kunai fell to the floor as Itachi dissipated in a high pitched puff of smoke.

'_A Kage Bunshin!'_ thought Kakashi, whirling his head around, searching for the real Itachi. He didn't have far to look – the Uchiha clan member was running purposefully towards the rest of the group, kunai poised in front of him like the stinger of some demonic insect.

Seeing Itachi get past his silver haired sensei, Naruto tensed his muscles and launched himself forward, gathering chakra into a tightly compacted ball in the palm of his hand. A spiralling sphere of bright blue light appeared in his hand, and Naruto roared, **"Rasengan!" **at the top of his voice, hammering the mass of whirling chakra into Itachi's stomach.

Naruto expected to see Itachi fly backwards from the force of the blow, but the Akatsuki ninja didn't even move an inch. Instead, his body seemed to flicker for a second, before splitting apart into a flurry of… feathers? The missing nin had transformed into a flock of large birds with dark plumage and they were circling overhead, cawing and crowing mockingly. Naruto looked around nervously. What was going on? Chiyo, Hinata and Kakashi-sensei had all gone totally still, and the leaves in the trees behind him, previously rustling in the light breeze, were frozen in place. It was as though time was standing still, other than for the wheeling birds overhead.

Itachi's sad, melancholy voice sounded from overhead in amoungst the bird calls. "You are caught in my genjutsu, Naruto-kun. There is no hope of escape for you now."

"Genjutsu?" Naruto shouted, mind whirring. "That's impossible! I made certain not to look at your eyes!"

The voice sounded again. Naruto tried to pinpoint its source, but it seemed to be coming from multiple directions at once, as though several people were speaking all at the same time. "My eyes are not the only method I have of casting genjutsu, Naruto-kun. Think back to when I raised my kunai against Kakashi…"

Naruto's eyes widened as he realised what had happened. "You used the kunai as a distraction for the hand seals you were making!"

The birds in the sky began to group together and reformed into Itachi's body, floating in mid air. The Akatsuki member smiled humourlessly. "An astute observation. But a little late for you now…"

From inside Itachi's robes, another flock of birds flew outward, this time streaking at Naruto like bolts of black lightning, their cruel, sharp beaks outstretched and ready to tear into him. Breathing deeply, Naruto formed a seal with his hands, drawing as much of his chakra as he could without tapping into the Kyuubi's essence. He thought back to the lectures Ero-Sennin had given whilst they were away on their travels on how to break out of genjutsus. According to the Toad Sage, if you could overwhelm your senses with chakra the illusion would be broken. Simple, right?

With a roar that resonated with power, Naruto let the chakra flow outwards from his body, attempting to overpower his sensory relay and shatter the genjutsu… and then shatter Itachi too, if he had anything to say about it. The birds diving towards him slowed down, flickered, and vanished. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, releasing his hand seal.

But then, where the birds had been, a cluster of shuriken took their place, hurtling towards him at point blank range. Naruto felt a searing pain as they penetrated all over his body – legs, shoulders, arms, ribcage. The blonde haired boy coughed and a thin trickle of blood dribbled out of the corner of his mouth. Fighting through the pain, Naruto gritted his teeth and tried to flex his fingers, but even attempting this smallest of movements sent a jolt of agonising discomfort down his arm.

Itachi rematerialsied in front of Naruto, a look of almost inhuman calm upon his face. "It's no use struggling Naruto-kun. This may just be a genjutsu, and on the outside world none of this will be happening at all, but what you are experiencing here, in the mind, in my world… this is _reality._"

"Screw you, asshole," spat Naruto, wishing that he could wrap his fingers round the Uchiha's neck and wring the life out of him. But his body just wouldn't obey him at all. The genjutsu had reduced him to being a helpless puppet inside his own mind.

Itachi's face remained perfectly still and composed, like a mask. Like a death mask. Then, slowly, the Akatsuki member raised a hand and gripped the skin under his chin, digging his painted nails in. There was a hideous, fleshy tearing sound as, bit by bit, Itachi tore the skin off his own face.

Naruto watched on in horrified confusion, unable to even shut his eyes to avoid seeing the horrible scene unfold in front of him. Gradually Itachi pulled more and more of his skin away and Naruto realised, with a thrill of dread, that there was another face underneath.

The face belonged to Uchiha Sasuke.

Twisted into an expression that was a mixture of rage and sadness, with his cursed seal actived, the fake Sasuke spoke in a voice almost dripping with hatred and malice. "You couldn't save me, could you Naruto? I always knew you were weak…"

"No," Naruto whispered, appalled. "You're not real. You're not…" He tried shutting his eyes again, but even that movement was beyond him.

The vision of Sasuke under Itachi's skin faded, replaced with the face of Sakura. "Naruto, why? Why couldn't you keep your promise to me? Why did you fail?"

"No," Naruto breathed, unable to blink away the tears now streaming down his face. "It's just a genjutsu…"

The face changed again, becoming Kakashi. "You couldn't save your teammate, even though I had faith in you," he announced in a disappointed voice. "You let me down, you let the village down, and you let Sasuke down. You really are nothing but a worthless demon."

The face transformed for a fourth time, this time belonging to Gaara. "I thought you understood me…" he said in a dry, weak voice, his eyes closed. "But you couldn't save me when I needed you most."

"S-Stop," Naruto pleaded, his entire body shaking. "P-Please… just stop!"

Itachi's head wiped itself of all features yet again, becoming another face. This time, it belonged to Hinata.

"Hinata-chan…" croaked Naruto desperately, trying with all his might to move even a finger. "Please… help me…"

The copy of the Hyuuga heiress looked on at Naruto with wide, frightened eyes. "Stay away from me, you monster!" she screamed out fearfully.

Naruto couldn't take it any more. He had reached his breaking point.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

-o-o-

The water surrounding Kisame began to bubble and froth as the shark-like ninja called upon more and more of his chakra. His Byakugan active, Neji could barely believe the amount of power that he could see the Akatsuki man possessed, it was almost unimaginable. The only person he had seen with a chakra capacity of even close to this size was Uzumaki Naruto, but even he had less than this man.

"Gai-sensei, what should we do?" asked Lee worriedly, turning towards his jonin instructor. Gai grimaced but didn't answer, instead reaching into a pouch on his jacket and withdrawing a lethal looking set of nunchaku. Lee's eyes widened. His sensei was getting serious.

However, Kisame wasn't focusing on Maito Gai. Instead, moving surprisingly gracefully over the surface of the water as if he were skating, the missing Kiri nin launched himself towards Tenten, a fierce smile stretching his grey lips. Thinking quickly, the Konoha kunoichi unfurled a scroll from behind her back and bit into her thumb to draw blood. Wiping her bloodied digit on the scroll caused a puff of smoke, from which Tenten pulled out a kusarigama to block the Akatsuki member's sword strike. The weighted chain weapon did its job of halting the forward slice, but Tenten's knees almost gave way underneath her at the sheer force behind the blow. The chain quivered as Kisame put more and more downwards pressure onto his sword, intent on breaking through the thin links of metal and tearing her in half, and Tenten hissed in pain, her arms straining to keep the chain aloft.

"Tenten, drop!" shouted Neji from behind her, running across the water as fast as he could to come to her aid. The weapon expert's eyes widened in understanding and she obediently cancelled the chakra flow to her feet and dropped down into the lake, Kisame's downward slash passing inches above her head. The cold water submerged her and the sound was blotted out for a second, before her head broke above the surface. She breathed in deeply and wiped a few wet strands of hair, which had come loose from their buns, out of her eyes. She saw that Neji had jumped over her as she fell and forced Kisame to retreat with a spearing Jyuuken strike, and that Lee and Gai-sensei had rejoined the fight too, attacking with their Gouken style taijutsu.

Gai was manoeuvring his nunchaku at a speed so fast that they were just an indestinguishable blur, but the Akatsuki ninja was using his bulky sword to block all of Gai's attacks. Neji and Lee were faring no better – Lee's twirling jump into the air and shout of, **"Konoha Senpuu!" **was halted as Kisame grabbed hold of one of Lee's legs in mid air with his free hand, preventing him from spinning. With Lee's leg still gripped in his hand, Kisame swung the Konoha chuunin around, swatting both Neji and Gai away like flies before releasing Lee and sending him bouncing and skidding acoss the surface of the water.

"Hah," snorted Kisame, holding Samehada aloft like a trophy. "You kids are out of your league here. I wonder how much you'll scream when I chop you all up?"

But before the Akatsuki swordsman could launch another attack, he noticed a shadow passing over his head. _'Oh shit!'_ he thought, realising too late what was happening. _'That shadow user must be trying to pin me down again… But wait, I don't need to panic; I can break out of it again by overwhelming the jutsu with chakra, like I did last time.'_

Shikamaru smiled grimly as he saw his shadow connect with Kisame's again, whilst keeping his hands firmly clasped together. "I think that's checkmate," he drawled, making sure to keep his distance still, in case Kisame were to break out of his jutsu. But this time he was almost certain that wouldn't be the case; he had an ace up his sleeve.

"Checkmate?" laughed Kisame. "I'll just break out of your shadow grip, exactly the same as I did last time. You can't stop me!"

"That's what you think, bastard!" came Temari's vehemently reply… from above?

Hampered by the jutsu, Kisame forced his gaze upwards. To his surprise, he saw the Suna kunoichi's fan was floating in mid-air with the blonde haired girl standing on it, gliding in place on the air currents like a bird, between Shikamaru's shadow and his own. The shadow the fan cast was overlapping with the link binding Kisame to the Nara boy and unless the swordsman was imagining it he could have sworn that the shadow binding him was thicker this time.

Gathering his chakra, Kisame unleashed as much as he could, attempting to shatter the Konoha chuunin's concentration. But this time, although Shikamaru began to sweat and breathe deeply, the shadow didn't rescind at all – if anything it actually tightened on the sword weilder.

"What's going on?" asked Kisame angrily. "You can't hold me down, my chakra is much too strong!"

Shikamaru smirked, infuriating Kisame even more. "That won't work this time. The the shadow cast by the fan overhead allows me to extend my shadow greater distances… or at the same distance but with more strength behind it. Face it, you lost." Shikamaru's smirk grew even wider. "To a bunch of kids."

Releasing his clasped hands, Shikamaru slowly and delibrately opened his right hand, palm facing downwards. Forced to mimic his captor's movements, the enraged Kisame did the same, dropping his sword.

That was all the invitation Gai needed.

With a roar of, "Kai!" Gai unlocked his celestial gates and burst forwards in an explosion of chakra and movement. Kisame didn't even have a chance to blink as the spandex clad jonin landed a powerful kick on the missing Kiri nin's jaw. Kisame was rocketed up into the air and Gai followed him into the sky in an instant. The last thing Kisame saw was a barrage of lightning fast fists, forming an aura of blue and gold as they hurtled towards his face. With a cry of, **"Asakujaku!"** the Akatsuki ninja fell, landing on the rocky ground away from the lake in a smoking crater. He was dead before he even hit the ground.

Slowly Gai's team gathered around Kisame's corpse, still slightly in awe of the spandex clad jonin's finishing move. Lee in particular was starry eyed as he gazed up at his sensei, who released the chakra flow granted by the celestial gates, his skin complexion returning to normal.

But something was clearly wrong with the Akatsuki member's body. Where there had been grey skin, slitted cheeks and bulging white eyes before, there was now a beaten, bloody and bruised man in his late twenties, with a Suna hitai-ite and a tightly cropped beard.

Neji scanned the body using his Byakugan. "This man has been dead for at least a day before he encountered us and judging by his fairly narrow chakra network some of the techniques he performed just now should have been impossible… Who is he?"

Temari frowned. "I think I remember seeing him on the Suna Village Council. I never knew him by name, but I recognise his face…"

The group lapsed into silence. Gai stared at the body, troubled, before startling everyone with a booming laugh. "Well, I don't know exactly what is going on here, but I do know that it is definitely… _fishy!_"

Everyone gazed at Gai in silence, before Pakkun poked his head out from behind an outcropping of rock. "Is it over yet?"

-o-o-

Hinata was struggling not to panic as the fight unfolded in front of her. After Itachi had managed to get past Kakashi-sensei, Naruto had launched a spiralling ball of chakra into mid-air, not even close to the Sharingan weilder. Chiyo had blocked Itachi's knife slash by grabbing his wrist, showing impressive reflexes in doing so, but the Akatsuki member hammered a knee strike into her stomach, sending the elderly Suna kunoichi to the floor with a pained grunt.

However, before Itachi could follow up his first blow Kakashi had made some frantic handseals, shouting, **"Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu!"** Immediately the masked copy nin disappeared into a hole in the ground, and in less than a second his hand pierced through the surface of the soil right next to Itachi's standing foot. He made a grab for the Akatsuki ninja's ankle, intending to pull him down into the ground, but Itachi was too fast, jumping back to a safe distance as the rest of Kakashi's body burst upwards from underground.

But Hinata was only vaguely aware of these details. After standing bemused for a few seconds, Naruto had fallen, collapsing to the ground in a boneless heap. Hinata had felt her heart almost stop and had only just prevented herself from screaming. His face had gone completely blank, with the light absent from his eyes, and if not for her ninja training she would surely have given in to her rising fear.

Luckily, the experienced Chiyo had risen back to her feet and immediately jumped in front of Naruto's prone form, acting as a shield for him whilst he was defenceless, and Kakashi had re-engaged in taijutsu combat with Itachi, forcing the Akatsuki member away from his student with a ferocious barrage of kicks and punches. Seeing the rest of her team perform their roles to protect Naruto without any hesitation on their part had reminded Hinata of her own duty to help defend him too and without any further thought she had rushed over to his side.

After calling his name fearfully and shaking him in an effort to wake him up, Hinata remembered Kakashi's advice and forced chakra into her hands, letting it flow into Naruto. She wasn't certain how much she should to use in order to awaken Naruto – it would depend on the strength of the genjutsu being used on him – but she knew the Uchiha clan were famed for the power of their illusionary techniques, so she resolved to use as much as she possibly could. With a shaky breath she placed her hands firmly on Naruto's back. Her chakra flowed into Naruto, glowing a soft, pale blue colour, and for a chilling moment there had been no reaction. Hinata had been terrified for that long, drawn out second that Naruto couldn't be snapped out of the genjutsu and that she couldn't help him. She had only proven to be a burden once again, the mission would end in failure and, worst of all, she had let Naruto down.

Then Naruto's eyes shot open, and he yelled out, "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" at the top of his voice.

Hinata jerked back in surprise at his shout, but let out a breath that she hadn't even realised she had been holding. Thank goodness he was awake!

Heart jackhammering, Naruto lurched into a sitting position, breathing heavily, as though he had been running for hours on end. His skin was covered in a sheen of cold sweat at what he had just witnessed in his mind and the sudden difference between the genjutsu and reality was so disorientating that he cradled his head in his hands and moaned. The film of sweat on his face mixed with the tears winding their way down his cheeks, and his body shook with repressed sobs. The after images of the genjutsu were still flashing in front of his eyes, like sheets of coloured glass. He knew that what he had seen wasn't real, that Itachi was just manipulating him, but the images had been so real… he shuddered violently, unable to stop his body from trembling.

"N-N-Naruto-kun… are… are y-you ok?" Hinata asked timidly. His traumatized reaction was certainly not what she had been expecting, and she didn't know what to do. She had never seen the spiky haired ninja in a state like this – he always seemed so resiliant and unbendable to her, and seeing the strongest person she knew in this state was horrible. _'What could possibly have frightened him so much?'_ she wondered concernedly.

Naruto heard her voice and suddenly realised there were a pair of hands resting on his back. Removing his hands from his face he looked up to see Hinata leaning over him and clutching onto his jacket, looking unbearably worried.

"Hinata-chan? What's going on?" Naruto asked hoarsely, looking around. "How did I escape from the genjutsu?" Behind the Hyuuga girl was Chiyo, standing with her back to the two of them and focusing on something ahead of her. Beyond her, Naruto could hear the clash of metal against metal… the fight! He'd almost forgotten about Itachi! What had happened in his mind must only have taken seconds here on the outside world, he realised.

Hinata watched Naruto slowly regain control of his breathing with a mixture of relief and worry. "K-Kakashi-sensei is still fighting Itachi," she answered, her blush growing slightly as Naruto rested his hand on hers for extra support and struggled to his feet, legs trembling beneath him. "I m-managed to break you out of Itachi's genjutsu, like Kakashi-sensei s-said."

Naruto looked up at her, his watery, blue eyes meeting her silvery-white ones. "Y-You were the one that… saved me? Protected me?" he asked, his voice cracking and his eyes shining dimly with tears. His gaze looked so lost and uncertain, completely unlike the sunny confidence that usually exuded from him.

'_Me? Save Naruto-kun?'_ thought Hinata, her face turning red. _'Naruto-kun actually… needed me?'_ Hesitantly she nodded.

She was almost knocked to the ground by the force of Naruto's arms wrapping tightly around her, engulfing her in a bone-crushing hug. Hinata let out a squeak at the shock of his sudden embrace and her blush grew even more intense, but she timidly wrapped her own arms around him, returning his hug.

"I don't… I don't think I can do this…" Naruto whispered, in an agonised voice that made Hinata's blood run cold. "Itachi is… too strong… I don't think I can fight him…"

The raw fear and self-doubt in Naruto's voice was enough to make Hinata's hands tremble, but she tried to quell her quivering body, for Naruto's sake. "You can do it Naruto-kun," she murmured, tightening her grip around him ever so slightly. "I know y-you can."

"But what if I'm not good enough?" asked Naruto, his panic making him blurt the words out desperately. "What if Itachi's too powerful for me to win against? What if we can't save Gaara?"

Hinata took a deep breath. "Ano… the N-Naruto-kun I know always found a way to win, no m-matter what, because he always tried his best and never gave up. If you g-give it your all, I know you can win… I b-believe in you!"

Naruto's throat felt so constricted that he could barely speak, but he managed to choke out, "Thank you," with face hidden from view in the crook of Hinata's neck. His body wracked with a sob and his eyes were clenched tightly shut. Seeing the total contrasts of between the two different Hinata's in the genjutsu and in reality, combined with seeing all his most deeply rooted fears dragged to the surface by Itachi, was enough to move him to tears.

Hinata could feel her skin becoming moist as the spiky haired ninja leant on her shoulder and cried and she hesitantly rubbed Naruto's back, eliciting a whimper from the blonde haired boy. "Thank you, Hinata-chan…" he croaked unevenly. "For saving me."

His tears were making her want to cry too, but Naruto needed her to be strong for him now, so she forced herself to remain as composed as she could, continuing to rub his back and whisper soothing words into his ear. "N-Naruto-kun… it will b-be ok… I promise…"

After a few lingering seconds, Naruto broke the physical contact, straightening himself out from the hug and standing tall. There were still tears on his face, but he was no longer crying and he had stopped trembling. But most important was the change in his eyes. They no longer looked lost and afraid, instead filled with determination and courage.

Looking back at Hinata, he caught her eye again and she was struck by the powerful intensity of his gaze. They seemed to be both warm and cold at the same time, and were the deepest blue Hinata had ever seen.

Naruto spoke in a low, quiet voice. "I'm really sorry, Hinata-chan, I didn't mean to break down like that. I was scared just now, really scared. But I'm not afraid any more. Thanks."

Naruto's words left Hinata speechless, and she could feel her heart almost bursting with pride. Naruto strode past her and stood beside Chiyo, eyes alert for any sign of Kakashi and Itachi, whose fight seemed to have spread into the treetops surrounding the clearing. Hinata stepped into place on Chiyo's other side, Byakugan eyes active and keeping track of the fight between the Sharingan users.

"Oh, you're awake?" asked Chiyo, noticing Naruto standing alongside her. "Hinata-san was able to break you out of the genjutsu, I take it?"

Naruto nodded shortly, scanning the area closely in case the fight came back towards them. Then, at that moment, Itachi and Kakashi fell from the treetops, slashing at each other in mid air with kunai blades and locked in combat. Both ninja had minor cuts and rips all over their body and clothing, and were breathing heavily. Just before they hit the ground both of them jumped back a few metres, putting some space between each other. Itachi had a nasty looking gash down his left arm, whilst Kakashi's right leg was stained with blood, but their injuries didn't seem to be slowing either of them down at all.

"Naruto, are you able to fight?" asked the silver haired jonin, glancing at his student out of the corner of his eye and wiping a minor cut on his forehead with the back of his wrist. "I know from personal experience the strain Itachi's genjutsus can put on your mind."

"Yeah, I'm ok," Naruto answered firmly, stepping forward so that he was alongside the masked copy nin. "Now let's finish this bastard off!" The blonde haired ninja formed the hand seals that he knew so well and roared out, **"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

Instantly the clearing was completely filled up with dozens of shadow clones, covering every available space. Kakashi's eyes widened, Chiyo took a step back, Hinata whispered, "A-Amazing," under her breath, and even Itachi raised his eyebrows at the sheer amount of chakra that Naruto had used for the technique.

"That's quite impressive, Naruto-kun," said the Uchiha traitor, voice as monotonous as always, "But it won't be enough. **Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!**"

Itachi completed the hand seals he had been making, hidden from Naruto's sight by the fabric of his Akatsuki robes, clasped his hands in front of his face and blew out sharply. Hinata, Kakashi and Chiyo quickly took cover as a cluster of small but searingly hot fireballs jetted out from the Akatsuki ninja's mouth in every direction, impacting with the shadow clones with a series of scorching explosions.

But Itachi didn't even have time to unclasp his hands before Naruto grabbed onto the sleeve of one of the Kage Bunshin and hurled it through the smoke as hard as he could, directly at the Sharingan weilder. The clone flew out of the haze and landed a brutal uppercut to the Itachi's chin, launching him into the air with a grunt of pain. Just before he hit the ground a second clone kicked him hard in the small of his back with a grunt of, **"U –****" **that sent him airbourne once again. A second cry of, **"– Zu –" **announced another painful kick in the back, lifting Itachi higher into the air, and further shouts of, **"– Ma –"** and, **"– Ki –" **sent the Akatsuki ninja even further upwards into the sky. The Uchiha traitor twisted in mid air, looking above him as he heard a roar of aggression. The real Naruto was just above his head, leg drawn back for a brutal axe kick. With a final bellow of, **"Naruto Rendan!" **the heel of the blonde haired ninja's foot flashed down and came into contact with Itachi's skull, halting the Akatsuki member's upward momentum with a sickening crack and sending him sprawling to the ground, with Naruto landing beside him in a crouch.

Ignoring the shocked faces of the rest of his team at the sudden, vicious end to the fight, the orange clad shinobi let out a sigh of relief, though he couldn't help but still feel unnerved, even though the fight was over. It had only been for a brief second, but Naruto was certain that Itachi had been smiling ever so slightly before the final blow. But it didn't matter now. There was no question about it – Itachi was dead.

**Author's Notes: **Chapter Eight is up and running! I'll be honest and say that this chapter was the single most difficult thing I have ever written, I've been close to tearing my hair out at times, though that's not to say I haven't enjoyed it. That's probably because this has been the most fight scene intensive section of the story so far, though I tried to fit in a little romance as well, to spice it up a bit – Naruto was pretty emotionally weak after Itachi's mind games, so I saw a chance for a little relationship building here, with Naruto relying on Hinata rather than the other way around, as is usually the case. I tried to make this quite a pacy, non-stop, action packed chapter, so I hope I kept the fights flowing and the tempo high enough for all you readers out there; it was certainly fun to write, although unbelievably tricky to keep the tension slowly building, since the fight scenes were both quite long. I'm not certain by any means that I've even managed it, though I'll admit to thinking the worst about some (ok, all!) of my past chapters too when I first published them… at least until you guys convinced me I was doing a good job! I guess I just need reassuring that I'm doing well, or need to be given a kick up the ass if I'm not. Normally I don't really mind that much if my work isn't the absolute best I could do it, so long as it's of reasonable quality, but writing this has turned me into a freaking perfectionist, so I think this is just about as good as I could make it. Any comments, tips or whatever would be appreciated as usual, so until next time I'll just keep banging my head against the brick wall of perfectionism! Peace out, y'all!

**List of Jutsu:**

'**Hakke Kuushou' = 'Eight Divination Signs Vacuum Palm' **

'**Fuuton: Dai Kamaitachi' = 'Air Release: Great Cutting Whirlwind' **

'**Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu' = 'Water Clone Technique' **

'**Kagemane no Jutsu' = 'Shadow Imitation Technique' **

'**Konoha Senpuu' = 'Leaf Whirlwind' **

'**Asakujaku' = 'Morning Peacock' **

'**Shinjuu Zanshu no Jutsu' = 'Double Suicide Decapitation Technique****' **

'**Katon: Housenka no Jutsu' = 'Fire Release: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique'**

'**Uzumaki Naruto Rendan' = 'Naruto Uzumaki Combo'**

**Joke Corner:**** If online instant messaging is the spice of the internet, 'lol's' are that painful burning sensation.**


	9. Opening Up

Chapter Nine: Opening Up

Naruto straightened up, panting, as one by one his remaining Kage Bunshin all dispelled. He wasn't just breathing heavily from the physical exertion of the fight – mentally he felt just about as tired as he could ever remember being and the genjutsu images were still at the forefront of his thoughts. It was only Hinata's encouraging words that were enabling him to think about Itachi's mind games without breaking into a cold sweat.

Naruto turned to look at the corpse of the man that had caused Sasuke so much pain and an indescribable feeling welling up inside of him. For some reason, he felt the urge to see the final expression of the Uchiha traitor. Would it be sad? Peaceful? As emotionless as always, even in death?

But when Naruto turned his gaze to the corpse's face, it wasn't Itachi's features that he saw. Instead, a man he had never seen before was staring back at him with dead, lifeless eyes, with a goatee and a veil of cloth covering the sides of his head. His facial expression was twisted in a rictus of agony.

"What the Hell is this?" Naruto shouted fearfully, stumbling hurriedly away from the corpse in his shock. "Where did Itachi's body go? It was him a second ago, I just saw it!"

Hinata and Kakashi looked equally as astonished, but Chiyo had recognised the body immediately, her wrinkled face drawing together in a tight frown of confusion. "This is impossible!" the Suna elder gasped. "This man is Yuura, an advisor to Kazekage-sama on the Suna Village Council! What kind of technique is this?"

"Could Yuura have been an Akatsuki spy?" asked Kakashi thoughtfully. "The way the Akatsuki infiltrated Suna so easily could mean they had a man on the inside…"

Chiyo shook her head vehemently. "That is out of the question! Yuura was a member of the Village Council for over four years and was a good, trustworthy man. It is unthinkable he would betray the village like that!"

"Then he must have been forced into helping the Akatsuki somehow," mused Kakashi, stroking his chin. "But that technique…"

"Ano…" Hinata spoke up timidly. "It w-wasn't a henge, whatever it was. My Byakuan showed that it was d-definitely Itachi."

"No henge could have replicated those Sharingan eyes," Kakashi agreed. "And that Katon jutsu was one that only the Uchiha clan uses. Whatever technique it was, it seemed to be a total copy of Itachi, rather than just an imitation… but I'm not sure it was a perfect likeness by any means. It seemed weaker than the Itachi I remember facing back in Konoha."

Hinata barely suppressed a gasp at Kakashi's statement. _'That was a… weakened Itachi?' _she thought incredulously. _'But he was still so strong! The Akatsuki… can I really measure up to people like that?'_ She stole a glance at Naruto, who was staring down wordlessly at the broken body of the Akatsuki member, and tried to strengthen her resolve. _'No, I can't get discouraged and give up without even trying. Maybe I can finally prove myself to Naruto-kun by fighting alongside him. I have to help him, however I can!'_

Hinata was distracted from her thoughts by Chiyo's serious voice. "Whatever the technique the Akatsuki used, there can be no doubt about their tactics. He was trying to stall us. If he had been serious about attempting to kill us, he would have attacked right from the beginning. That means only one thing – the Akatsuki have already started to extract the Bijuu from Kazekage-sama!"

"B-Bijuu?" Hinata repeated worriedly, as she saw Naruto tense up. "What's that?"

Hinata had asked the question to Chiyo, but, to her surprise it was Naruto who answered her. "Bijuu are tailed demons that have a huge store of chakra held inside of them," he said in a low, slightly strained voice. "The Akatsuki want to harness that power for their own greed."

"But Chiyo-baasama said something about t-taking it f-from Gaara-sama?"

Naruto swallowed. "Do you remember Gaara from the Chuunin Exams?"

"Y-Yes, I remember," Hinata answered, shivering at the memory. Back in the Forest of Death, where the Second Exam had taken place, her team had ran into Gaara's squad as he ruthlessly slaughtered a group of ninja from the Village Hidden in the Rain. The deranged look in Gaara's eye sent a jolt of fear through her heart even now and she dreaded to think of what would have happened to her teammates and herself if they had been discovered.

"Well, when he was fighting Sasuke-teme in the Third Exam, he got hurt and went completely crazy. There was something sealed away inside of him, something evil… It was this Tanuki monster thing called the Ichibi… and it wanted to get out. But I fought against him as the demon was breaking loose and managed to get through to him, to show him that even though he had a monster inside of him, he wasn't alone…"

Naruto clutched his stomach as he spoke, his voice trailing off towards the end, but Hinata caught every word. The pain behind his voice was unmistakeable. She didn't know what was causing him to feel so downcast, but the way he had said 'alone' in such a hollow tone made Hinata feel a sharp pang of sympathy and she thought back to their days at the Academy. Naruto had always seemed to be on his own there, without any friends to talk with… She had wanted to talk to him herself more than anything, but she had been so shy and afraid that she just froze up whenever she had tried.

"Anyway," continued Naruto, in the same, low voice, releasing his hold on his stomach. "The Ichibi is what the Akatsuki are after. They just see Gaara as the container, but he's a person, dammit! And that's why I need to save him – because he's my friend. He's had to suffer through so much and be on his own for so long, I just want to show him that people really do care about him and let him see that he's not alone any more!"

Naruto's voice had risen throughout his explanation and by the end his hands were shaking slightly, and he was breathing heavily. Before Hinata could recover from her surprise at his passionate response, Chiyo spoke up again. "There are certain methods of sealing a Bijuu inside of a human to contain the tailed beast's vast power, creating a demon container known as a Jinchuuriki. Jinchuuriki have incredible chakra at their disposal and can be used to control the raw power of the Bijuu, making them a hugely valuable asset for any village. In fact, it is likely that the Akatsuki are trying to seal the Ichibi inside a new vessel of their choosing."

"So… does that m-mean the Bijuu can be removed from the Jinchuuriki?" Hinata asked, trying to grasp the concept. The huge scale of such a revelation was making her head spin. Human containers for creatures made up of raw chakra? A criminal organisation trying to collect these powerful, ancient demons? The notion seemed ludricrous from a logical standpoint, but she had seen so many things that she would have thought to be impossible in her missions that she knew not to rule out any possibility, and she liked to think that she was open minded enough to accept new ideas.

Chiyo nodded, but her eyes were downcast. "Yes, but it comes at a price. To remove a Bijuu from its Jinchuuriki, the human it is contained in must die. If we don't reach Kazekage-sama before the Ichibi has been extracted from him… then we will have failed."

The finality in Chiyo's voice was clear, and the seriousness of the topic weighed down heavily on the group. No-one spoke for almost a minute after her words, before Naruto broke the silence with a forced laugh.

"Well, that just means we have to go as fast as possible then, right?" he said with a fierce determination, cracking his knuckles. "I'm definitely going to get Gaara back, if it's the last thing I do!"

-o-o-

Itachi and Kisame both blinked as their pseudo-bodies died and Pain, observant as ever, picked up on it immediately. "Itachi and Kisame have returned. The **Shouten no Jutsu **bodies have both been defeated," he announced, analysing the faces of his subordinates closely and waiting for their reactions.

Sasori growled. "It was _my_ underlings that were used as sacrifices for this technique. What a waste. You didn't hold them up for very long, Itachi, Kisame. You two must be getting soft."

"Soft?" Kisame hissed, narrowing his eyes. "I only used a fraction of my true power against those ants. Maybe you'd like me to show you what I can _really _do with Samehada?"

"We carried out our task of stalling the Konoha ninja, as was ordered," interrupted Itachi, not even attempting to hide the boredom from his voice. "Therefore we succeeded in our objectives."

"But both groups broke through sooner than expected, yeah," taunted Deidara. "You two failing to hold them up might mean they arrive before the ritual is over."

"That is enough, all of you," snapped Pain, a hint of irritation present in his usually flat voice. "If the Konoha squads reach our location before the extraction process has ended, we have other precautionary measures in place. Our plans shall not be hindered. Now, Zetsu, dispose of the bodies used for the** Shouten no Jutsu.**"

Zetsu, Sasori, Deidara, Kisame and Itachi inclined their heads respectfully towards their leader, who returned the gesture without looking at them. He had more important matters to be concerned about than mere courtesy; matters to which a god must attend to.

The red light surrounding Gaara continued to ebb and flow, and the eye of the stone face slowly inched open. Pain kept his face completely impassive, but couldn't quell the faintly rising anticipation he felt. _'Soon,'_ he thought to himself. _'Soon the whole world will know my pain.'_

-o-o-

Hinata couldn't quell the faintest sense of unease as the group ran through the forests of Kawa, alongside a large river. So far they hadn't come across anything else to hinder their progress, but Hinata could tell that Kakashi was worried – he had kept his Sharingan eye activated ever since the fight with Itachi. Did the lack of any extra impediments indicate that the Akatsuki were confident enough that their first trap would keep any intruders away from their base? Or had the stalling methods of the fake Itachi allowed them to achieve their goal of extracting the Ichibi already? Hinata wasn't sure, but she tried to banish those thoughts from her mind. There was no use worrying over something that might not even be true, after all, and she had to stay focused.

However, on top of the uncertainty of how close the Akatsuki were to extracting Gaara's Bijuu, Hinata was worried by Naruto's attitude since they had started moving again. After his initial determined outburst he had slowly withdrawn into himself more and more, answering any questions or commands directed his way with little more than a grunt. Rather than his ever present, cheery smile, his face was fixed in a sullen scowl, so completely unlike his usual expression that it made him look almost like an entirely different person. His downcast, brooding gaze made Hinata want to reach out and touch him, to show him that she was there for him in the same way that he was for Gaara, but she wasn't really sure what she could say to him when he was in this mood. His confidence and friendliness seemed to have vanished and Hinata's own confidence was faltering too. She was shocked at just how much she relied on his fearless bravery – even when he had been on his long training journey she had still used his faith and courage as her motivation to improve herself as both a kunoichi and a person and without it she felt exposed and vulnerable.

Based on Naruto's reaction, Hinata could only assume that his thoughts were still dwelling on the genjutsu. She wasn't sure what exactly he had seen in it, but it was clear to her that Naruto wasn't his usual self. She wondered if her earlier words, in the middle of the battle, had really helped him at all. He seemed to have recovered back then, but now he had withdrawn into himself and didn't seem to want to let anyone talk to him. Hinata had hesitantly attempted to start a conversation with him earlier, but his answers had all been monosyllabic and he had looked very uncomfortable speaking, so she had decided, with a heavy heart, to drop the matter. Hopefully Naruto would talk to her when he had thought about it for a while. Maybe then she would be able to help him.

The closer they got to the Akatsuki base, the more distant Naruto seemed to become. He increased his speed so that he was at the front of the group, avoiding any possible conversation with Hinata, Kakashi or Chiyo, and he was flying through the trees so fast that the elderly Suna kunoichi was having difficulty keeping up.

"Naruto, slow down!" called Kakashi eventually, as Naruto leapt off a branch with so much force that the bark surrounding it shattered, sending wood chips flying. "We have to stay in formation!"

Naruto landed sideways on the side of a thick tree trunk, anchoring himself in place with chakra. He glanced darkly at the silver haired jonin, nodded curtly, then jumped back to the front of the group, barely any slower than before.

Hinata dropped her gaze, saddened by Naruto's physical and emotional distance, and Kakashi let out a sigh, shaking his head. "Something's definitely not right with Naruto…" He paused for a moment before asking casually, "Hinata, do you think you could speak with him?"

"What? M-Me?" Hinata asked, shocked by Kakashi's question. "I d-don't understand. Why me?"

Chiyo, who was listening on with interest, raised an eyebrow. "Oh? It seems to me that he listens to you – more so than to either of us at very least. Both Kakashi-san and I can't connect with him in the same way that someone of his own age would be able to."

Kakashi smiled encouragingly behind his mask. "Hinata, Naruto needs someone to talk with, someone that will listen to him and try to help him with whatever's on his mind. Do you want to help him?"

"Well… y-yes," Hinata answered uncertainly, torn. Kakashi's suggestion had come completely out of the blue and although she wanted to get through to Naruto, it seemed blatantly obvious that he wanted to be alone at the moment. "B-But what if he doesn't w-want to talk to me? What if–"

"Then it's settled," interrupted Kakashi, an air of finality in his voice. "I'm trusting you to snap Naruto out of whatever mood he's in, so good luck!"

With that, Kakashi and Chiyo dropped back slightly, leaving Naruto at the front of the group and Hinata behind him. Hinata took a shaky breath. _'I have to do this,' _she thought to herself determinedly. _'Naruto-kun needs someone now, so maybe I can do something for him. I have to at least try. I know Naruto-kun would for all of his friends.'_

Steeling herself, Hinata forced chakra into her feet and leapt forward, catching up to Naruto within a few seconds, running alongside him and matching his speed. Naruto glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, but other than that gave no indication that he had acknowledged her closeness. Hinata felt her resolve weaken for a second at his indifference to her presence, but forced herself to speak as steadily as she could.

"N-Naruto-kun… would you… would you like to talk? You seem a little distant…"

Naruto's reply sounded forced. "I'm fine."

"Oh… it's j-just that I thought –"

"I told you, it's fine!" interrupted Naruto sharply. Hinata flinched at the anger present in his voice, and Naruto instantly regretted his words. He felt a little ashamed of his outburst. It wasn't her fault that Itachi's genjutsu was still ingrained in the back of his mind, festering like an infected wound. It wasn't her fault that Gaara had been kidnapped. Hell, she was trying to help him, he shouldn't be losing his temper at her like this.

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered, her voice cracking slightly. His harsh words had made her feel like things were the same as they had been at the Academy and in their early days as genin, when Naruto hadn't even noticed her. No, it felt even worse than that – at least he hadn't snapped at her then. But at the same time, Hinata knew she had to talk to the blonde haired ninja – she had never seen him act like this. Even on the rare occasions that he was angry, Naruto never vented his frustrations on people he knew.

Naruto softened his voice. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell. But I really don't wanna talk right now."

"Why? Why w-won't you talk to me? Is it that… is it that you don't trust me?"

"What? No, no, that's not it at all!" answered Naruto desperately, waving his arms defensively. Hinata had turned her head away from him, blocking her face from view, but he swore that just before she had shifted her head he had saw tears glistening at the corners of her eyes. He didn't feel ashamed of himself anymore – now he felt sick to his stomach at hurting one of his friends. She had only wanted to talk to him, and he had brushed her off without even thinking. _'I'm such an idiot!' _he thought to himself angrily. _'She was trying to help and I just bit her head off for no reason!'_

"Then why?" asked Hinata softly, in an almost inaudible voice.

After a long pause, Naruto mumbled uncomfortably, "Because… because it's my problem. I don't want to burden anyone else with it."

"Naruto-kun, you d-don't have to do it all on your own," said Hinata quietly. "You have people that want to h-help you. You don't have to bear this b-burden by your self…" She reached out timidly to touch him, but after just barely brushing his fingers she withdrew her hand, blushing.

Naruto didn't answer for a few long moments. "Was it s-something to do w-with Itachi's genjutsu?" asked Hinata intuitively, turning back to face Naruto again.

Naruto almost lost his footing on the tree branch he was jumping from. "H-How did you figure it out so quickly?" he gasped, astonished. "Was it really that obvious?"

Hinata nodded shyly, and Naruto chuckled, the first time since the fight against Itachi that he had done so. "Heh, I guess I'm not very good at hiding my emotions. Some ninja I am, huh?"

Hinata smiled self-conciously at Naruto, relieved to see that he was almost back to his old self again. "Do you… still not want to talk about it, N-Naruto-kun?" she asked, not wanting to encroach on Naruto's privacy any further, but still wishing to help. "If you do, I'd b-be happy to l-listen."

This time, Naruto seriously considered Hinata's offer. A large part of him was sorely tempted to tell her everything – her suggestion had been so warm-hearted and kind, and she was being so patient with him that he was finding it difficult not to just blurt out everything, all at once. But one thing was holding him back; if he told her about the genjutsu, then he would also have to tell her about how her image had appeared in front of him and called him a monster. And that meant that he would have to explain to her about the Kyuubi.

The thought of telling her his darkest secret made Naruto feel almost frozen with indecision. What should he do? Hinata would understand, right? She was his friend and was always so nice to everyone, surely she would recognise what he really was… But then the image of the terrified Hinata in Itachi's genjutsu, shouting, 'Monster,' echoed in his mind and his whole body shivered.

Finally, Naruto came to a decision. "I… I'll tell you. Everything. But after the mission's over, ok? Please?"

The pleading tone of Naruto's voice was so forlorn that it made Hinata want to cry all over again, but instead she nodded and smiled as tenderly as she could. "Ok, I d-don't mind. I'll wait for you… until you're ready."

-o-o-

Pakkun landed on the water's surface, the other ninja just behind him. "We're here," the small pug dog announced to the group, sniffing the air. "The Akatsuki are behind that boulder in the cliff face."

"Ah, many thanks, Pakkun," said Gai enthusiastically, crouching down and giving the tracking hound a pat on the head. "Though it may not look it, your small body truly does burn with the fires of youth!"

"… Yeah, sure. Anyway, I'm not much of a fighter, so I'll leave it to you guys now. See ya." A small puff of white smoke announced Pakkun's departure.

Gai straighted up and turned to Neji. "We need to see what is happening inside that cave. Neji, would you mind?"

Neji nodded and muttered, "Byakugan!" His vision faded to shades of grey, and he scanned the area beyond the boulder blocking their path. His eyes widened as he saw what was happening inside.

Cancelling the chakra flow to his eyes, he sighed and tried to explain exactly what he had seen. "Pakkun was right, Gaara-sama and the two Akatsuki members are indeed inside the cave." Temari gasped and took a step forward, but Shikamaru placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head, waiting for Neji to continue. "However… there seems to be a… ritual of some sort going on. There is a statue… and Gaara-sama's body is floating… I can't describe it."

Gai grimaced. It was almost unheard of to hear the Hyuuga prodigy left lost for words. Whatever was going on inside that cave must have been serious.

With a shout of aggression, Gai launched himself forward, right arm outstetched in a devastating straight arm punch. However, before his fist could connect with the rock face he felt resistance and his punch, rather than connecting with the boulder, stopped just short. Gai frowned. The air seemed to be rippling where he had struck, preventing him from reaching any further. An experimental push against the invisible barricade didn't seem to weaken it at all either. "Is this a barrier technique of some kind?" wondered Gai aloud, withdrawing his fist and scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"Most probably," came the reply… from a very familiar voice.

"Yosh! Kakashi, my eternal rival, you have arrived!" shouted Gai, his eyes glinting. "And the rest of your team too! You are just in time!"

Lee turned around at his sensei's greeting, and he smiled widely as he saw who else had arrived. "Naruto-kun! You have returned from your training mission!"

"Hey there guys," Naruto greeted, smiling widely. "Miss me whilst I was away?" Behind him, Hinata shyly raised her hand to wave her own greeting at them, to which her cousin nodded his acknowledgement and Tenten returned cheerfully.

"I trust your training went well, Naruto?" enquired Neji. "We have all improved in the time you were away."

"Definitely!" grinned Naruto. "I've been working non-stop for the last two-and-a-half years and I've gotten way stronger than I was before!"

Lee gave Naruto a thumbs up sign. "Yosh! It is excellent to hear that you have not lost your fiery spirit, Naruto-kun! After we have completed this mission we must engage in combat and show each other the fruits of our youthful labour!"

It took Naruto a second or two to realise that Lee was asking him to train with him, in his own round-about way. "Huh? Oh, right, training together sounds great! I want to spar with as many people as possible, so I can keep getting stronger! But you'd better be prepared, Fuzzy Brows, or I'll kick your ass!"

Seeing Lee's eyes light up at Naruto's competitive challenge and hoping to avert another one of Lee's sermons on 'the power of youth,' Shikamaru quickly changed the subject. "So Naruto, who's the old lady?" he asked hastily, nodding at Chiyo. "Is she from Suna?"

Before Naruto could answer, Temari stamped down on the Nara's boy's foot, hard. "Show some respect!" she hissed out of the corner of her mouth, as Shikamaru cursed at the pain. "Chiyo-baasama is one of the most important and distinguished advisors in Suna! She's not just some 'old lady,' idiot!"

Chiyo chuckled at the praise. "Oh stop, you're exaggerating, Temari-san. I am semi-retired, after all."

Kakashi and Gai, who had been whispering together separately from the others, rejoined the rest of the group. Gai was grumbling, "I suppose you're trying to be 'hip' and 'cool' by arriving as late as usual…"

Kakashi repressed the urge to say, 'Did you say something?' and instead rolled his eyes, before getting down to business. "Alright everyone, see at that tag on the rock? It has the sign for 'forbidden' written on it, which means it's a Five Seal Barrier. In the near vicinity there will be four other tags just like it. If we want to break the barrier, all of these tags will need to be removed at the same time."

Naruto scrunched his face up in confusion. "Other tags? Where are they then?"

"Let me worry about that, Naruto," said Neji, stepping forward and activating his Byakugan. After a moment of silence in which he made quick scan of the surrounding area, Neji spoke up again. "Found them. One is located on a large, flat rock five-hundred metres north-east. One on a tree trunk, next to a river, just over three-hundred metres south-east. Another on a rock wall six-hundred-and-fifty metres north-west. And the final tag is approximately eight-hundred metres to the south-west, in a grove of trees."

Gai nodded, pleased. "Excellent work, Neji," he announced, reaching into his kunai pouch. From the small pocket he withdrew five portable radio sets, handing one each to Tenten, Lee, Neji and Kakashi. "I don't have enough radios for everyone, but those of us that are going to be targeting the tags will need them, so that we can remove them all at the same time. Now, everyone, let's go!"

Gai, Tenten, Neji and Lee split off from the group, all heading in separate directions to find and remove one of the tags. Kakashi quickly attached his radio to the collar of his jacket before leaping up onto the boulder blocking the entrance to the Akatsuki's lair.

"In a few seconds, we will be engaging the Akatsuki to recapture the Kazekage," said the copy nin authoritatively, gazing down at the shinobi positioned beneath him. "Is everyone fully prepared for the battle ahead?"

Temari smiled grimly, unfurling her fan and taking a firm grip on it. Shikamaru straightened slightly from his slouched posture and nodded in response, his customary laziness nowhere to be seen. Chiyo stepped to the side slightly, making certain she would be out of the way of any falling rubble. Hinata pressed her index fingers together, but activated her Byakugan determinedly, a hint of steel in her gaze. Naruto tightened the kunai pouch attached to his leg and called up, "We're good to go, Kakashi-sensei!"

Gai's voice came through the speaker of Kakashi's radio, sounding tinny and slightly fuzzy. "Kakashi, my team and I are all in position. Is your squad ready?"

Kakashi surveyed the ninja standing below him. _'They're all so different,' _he thought to himself. _'A mixture of backgrounds, ages and personalities. But they all know what to do.'_ "Yeah, they're ready," Kakashi answered, a hint of pride in his voice as he gazed down at Naruto.

"Good," Gai replied. "Everyone, remove the tags on the count of three. Ready? One… two… three!"

Simultaneously, Gai, Lee, Tenten and Neji ripped the tags from their respective surfaces. Kakashi was a lot less subtle. With a shout of, **"Raikiri!"** Kakashi slammed his hand down onto the paper tag, incinerating it and smashing through the boulder blocking the entrance of the cavern. The rock fractured and split, tumbling down into the lake, and the second the boulder had stopped collapsing Naruto leapt forward, through the dust cloud and into the cave itself.

In the time that he was poised in mid-air, time seemed to slow down to a crawl. The first thing Naruto noticed was that it was surprisingly light in the cave considering that there was no entrance to the outside world other than the opening he had just entered by. The gigantic statue that dominated the entire cavern was the next thing to catch his attention, with its hideously ugly face and two hands spread upwards. He couldn't see clearly, but what looked like a large, white bird was nestled on the floor and Naruto could see some sort of shadowy figures standing atop each finger of the statue's hands. Then he spotted the prone figure floating in between the two hands, with some sort of light, which explained why it wasn't dark, being sucked out of his mouth. With a start, Naruto realised it was Gaara, and a murderous rage overtook him.

Before he even realised what he was doing and still in mid-air, Naruto drew two kunai from his weapons pouch, each with an explosive note attached. He assumed that this was how the Akatsuki were extracting the Ichibi from Gaara and although he had no idea how they were doing it, blowing the statue to pieces sounded like a good idea to him.

With a shout of "GAARA!" Naruto flicked each wrist and hurled both kunai into the hands of the statue. Before the shadowy figures could do more than look up at the blonde haired shinobi in surprise, the tags flared and all Hell broke loose.

**Author's Notes:** That's Chapter Nine, folks! This chapter was sort of a set up for the next one, but the interaction between Hinata and Naruto was definitely important. I've tried to make out Naruto's reaction to be one of delayed shock – often, when seeing something traumatic, the human mind pushes it to one side at first, with the main reaction later. I tried to make it show that Naruto's trust in Hinata is growing, but he is still very insecure about the Kyuubi, something I don't think was focused on enough in the manga. The fear of not being liked and being alone is something that everyone shares, and when you've got an ancient demon sealed in your belly I'd guess that the fear of rejection would probably be enhanced a bit. Some good news on my end is that I now have a second opinion for the story as I write it – my brother has offered to be a 'sort of' beta reader. He hasn't written any fanfiction of his own, but the second opinion on a couple of issues is nice to hear, and he's not a bad writer in his own right too. Plus he's into NaruHina himself, which is always nice! Oh, and also I got my first big piece of constructive criticism in a review about last chapter, from someone called Der Perko, which is great – I don't mind criticism that tells me how they perceive something and offers suggestions for improvements. I'm by no means saying that my way of writing the fight scenes with Itachi and Kisame was perfect but I'm going to explain my reasoning behind the way that I wrote it out. Firstly, I split the fights into two sections, rather than just having the entirety of one battle followed by the other, in order to attempt to build up the tension. My reasoning was that having two fights at the same time built up the suspense more than just listing off the two battles one at a time, and having one fight right after another would put the reader out of 'action mode' (if you know what I mean!) and cause them to relax, only to be plunged straight into more conflict, which may have been a little more awkward and jarring, preventing the scenes from flowing more naturally. The other criticism, that Naruto's reaction wasn't 'angry' enough at Itachi, was because I tried to make it so that his terror was more powerful than his rage, due to Itachi manipulating him. I thought of it like this – say you were terrified of snakes, and your worst enemy simultaneously insulted you and threw a snake at you. Chances are you'd probably be more worried about the snake than angry about the insult, right? Yeah, that's some pretty twisted logic I've got there, I know! Anyway, next chapter is going to include the start of the fights against Sasori and Deidara, so more action scene writing for me to get done, though I do already have a vague plan of what's going to happen. I think that's it for this chapter, bye!

**List of Jutsu:**

'**Shouten no Jutsu' = 'Shape Changing Technique' **

'**Raikiri' = 'Lightning Edge' **

**Joke Corner:** **When mating, a blue whale ejaculates approximately forty pints of semen, but only 10% actually enters the female… and you wondered why the sea was salty?**


	10. No Strings Attached

Chapter Ten: No Strings Attached

"Kankuro-san… what are you doing?"

Kankuro shivered at the voice that was almost dripping with forced sweetness. Gulping, he turned around from his exposed position, with one leg halfway outside the hospital window and the other still inside the room. Desperately he tried to come up with a plausible answer that wouldn't result in him experiencing first hand the frightening strength of the pink haired Leaf kunoichi that had been looking after him.

"Erm… just stretching, Sakura-san?"

Sakura glared at him, not buying his excuse for a second. "Bullshit. You're trying to get away from the village and go searching for Gaara-sama, aren't you?"

The lack of any sort of response from Kankuro other than a guilty glance out of the window was all the answer she needed. "You are _supposed _to be resting!" she hissed, eyes narrowing dangerously. "You still have a dose of medicine to take as well, so get back in bed right now!"

"But I'm totally fine now!" Kankuro protested, taking a shaky step back from her as she held a small cup of the vile tasting medicine towards him. "See, I'm standing up all by myself, and I was in bed for the whole of yesterday!" His knees almost gave way under him as he took another step back and he leant against the wall, panting. He knew he wasn't fully recovered and his body still felt very weak, but he couldn't just lie around in bed doing nothing! His village needed him and, more importantly, his brother needed him.

Sakura huffed, frustrated. "No, you are most certainly _not_ ok! There are still traces of the poison that haven't been broken down yet and your body still needs time to recuperate after having the toxins in your bloodstream removed all at once. Now get back in bed and rest, doctor's orders!"

"But… I have to save Gaara," whispered Kankuro, clenching his fists tightly as he slumped down onto the bed, a forlorn expression across his face. "He needs me…"

Sakura sighed exasperatedly and shook her head. "Honestly, you sound so much like Naruto… Alright, get some sleep and I'll talk to Baki-sama about sending another squad to search for Gaara-sama. We haven't heard any word from Kakashi-sensei for a while now…" Sakura paused for a moment, trying to suppress her growing worry at the lack of news from her team. She had faith in their ability to succeed without her, but not knowing what was happening and being forced to stay back on the sidelines was torture. She felt like she'd scream if she didn't do something soon! Taking a deep, calming breath she continued, "If I judge your condition has improved by the time you wake up, I'll recommend you be part of this squad too. Does that sound fair?"

Kankuro nodded tiredly, and with a grunt swallowed the medicine she had offered him. Shuddering at the bitter taste, he tried to relax against the soft mattress and pillows and within less than a minute he was fast asleep, breathing slowly and easily in his slumber.

Sakura sighed again as she watched the Suna puppet ninja rest. She wished that she could get stronger and become more useful to the mission just by falling asleep too.

-o-o-

Before either Sasori or Deidara could do more than gape at the boy that had just broken into their lair, the two kunai thrown by Naruto embedded deeply into the hands of the stone statue. With a flash of light, the explosive notes attached flared and detonated. The explosion, magnified by the cave's surrounding walls, shook the cave violently and sent flakes of dirt trickling down from small cracks in the ceiling. The shadowy figures flickering on the stony fingers vanished in the blink of an eye like malevolent ghosts, as though they had never been there at all, and the statue collapsed with a mighty rumbling roar, crumbling into rubble with only the odd fragment still recognisable. The blast cloaked the cavern with a screen of blinding dust, causing Naruto to cough and jump back, waving his hand in front of his face to clear his vision.

With nothing supporting him now that the statue had been destroyed, Gaara fell from his levitating position, landing in a crumpled heap on the cold, hard ground. The red light that had been surrounding him vanished, leaving the cave in almost total darkness.

Deidara had leapt back from the statue as soon as had had realised the blonde haired boy's intentions – explosions may have been beautiful to him, but he had no desire to be blown to smithereens. Out of the corner of his eye, Deidara saw that Sasori had been a fraction slower than him in escaping from the blast radius – the puppet master had been clipped by a chunk of falling rock and the left part of the face of Hiruko, the puppet he contained his real body inside, had been shattered, leaving an empty, hollow, wooden cavity.

Sensing a brief opportunity, with the dust still hiding himself, Sasori and the Ichibi's Jinchuuriki from view, Deidara quickly seized it. The missing Iwa nin glanced questioningly at Sasori, jerking his head at the entrance to the cave where other ninja were beginning to enter from.

"Separate them," Sasori growled, his voice reverberating eerily through the shattered hole in his puppet's face.

Deidara quickly jumped onto his clay bird, its wings spread wide, and began manipulating a piece of clay in his hand. The Doton user gritted his teeth. With only one arm, the variation of this jutsu that he was performing was a little trickier than usual, but he was an artist, dammit!

"**Nendo Bunshin no Jutsu,"** he grunted, forming his one hand into a seal. The clay inside the mouth on his palm was violently vomited out all at once onto the clay bird's beak into a human shape. As more and more clay was added, the clone began to increasingly resemble Gaara, right down to the skin and hair tones. Deidara judged his creation critically before smiling, pleased with his craftsmanship. _'Not bad at all, yeah,' _he thought to himself. _'This ought to split those Konoha bastards up!'_

Sasori watched as Deidara made a few last finishing touches to the clay clone and had to admit to being impressed. Usually a Bunshin would appear to be exactly the same as its creator, so it was testament to Deidara's skill that he had managed to craft it into an almost flawless likeness of the Jinchuuriki lying spread-eagled on the floor, right down the the chakra network. Now it was just up to the Konoha ninja to divide themselves up and be picked off one by one.

As the dust cloud settled, the puppet master gazed at the opposing ninja. His eyes widened as they settled on Chiyo's aged face. _'So…my grandmother was sent here…' _he thought to himself, staring intently at her. A whole host of memories from his days in Suna, when he had lived with her, threatened to rise to the surface, but he relentlessly forced them down. He reminded himself that this was precisely the reason he had abandoned his old, human body. _'This could be very interesting… I wonder… will I have any new puppets to add to my collection after this?'_

-o-o-

Itachi's blood red eyes opened, surveying the jagged landscape below him from his cross-legged position on top of a craggy mountain. Beside him his partner, Kisame, blinked his own small, fish-like eyes open too, wincing at the sudden difference between the light and the previous darkness of the cave and shielding his gaze from the burning sunlight high overhead.

"What the Hell happened, Itachi?" the grey skinned man asked, bewildered. "We were doing the sealing jutsu and then some kid just burst in through the entrance!"

"The statue was destroyed, therefore the sealing jutsu and our astral projection bodies were cancelled and we returned to our physical bodies. We shall have to wait for Zetsu to relay new orders from Leader-sama before we take any further action," replied Itachi in a monotone. "You should know that 'kid' though, Kisame. You have met him once before."

"Huh? You sure about that? Hmm… I dunno, now that you mention it he did look familiar…"

"You would be advised to remember his face. That boy was Uzumaki Naruto, the Jinchuuriki container of the Kyuubi."

Kisame's lips twisted into a feral smile. "Oh yeah, now I remember. That kid had some _really _tasty chakra. I wonder how long it'll take Deidara and Sasori to crush him?"

"It would be unwise to underestimate him," Itachi replied coolly, much to Kisame's surprise. "He was one of the team from Konoha that I stalled and has noticeably improved since our previous encounter."

"What, you're saying you think he actually has a chance of beating Deidara and Sasori?" Kisame laughed uproariously. "Get real, I know those two are weak, but they're not _that _weak."

Itachi slowly rose and turned to face his partner, a look of disinterested indifference on his face. "Naruto-kun is not alone and his allies seem moderately capable too. A team from Konoha was able to manoeuvre their way past you, correct?"

Kisame gritted his pointed teeth. "They just got lucky," he hissed, gripping the hilt of his sword. "Next time, when I'm not holding back, I'll rip them all to shreds! Samehada will tear them apart like…"

Itachi remained silent, letting the ninja swordsman continue his furious tirade without interruption. _'Naruto-kun,'_ he pondered thoughtfully, _'I wonder, are you a match for my brother now?'_

-o-o-

Hearing an explosion, Kakashi slowly counted to three inside his head to make certain that Naruto would be out of the way of the cave's entrance and any falling debris would no longer be a threat, then jumped into the cavern himself, the other ninja just behind him. Scanning the cave quickly, he saw a huge dust cloud, from which Naruto emerged, streaked with dirt and coughing.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted, pointing towards the cloud of dirt with one hand and wiping the grime off of his face with another. "Gaara's in there!"

Before Kakashi could respond, Temari jumped forwards and violently swung her fan, blowing the obscuring haze away with a gust of air. As the dust settled, Kakashi could see the figures of two men wearing Akatsuki robes, alongside a mound of rubble. One of them was bulky and hunched over, and seemed to have something wrong with his face – where his left eye should have been there was merely a gaping hole. The other was tall, with blonde hair pulled back into a long ponytail, and despite the fact that one of the sleeves of his cloud patterned robes was smeared with blood and hung limp he was standing proudly on top of a giant white bird. They matched the descriptions that Baki had given him to perfection, but that wasn't what had really caught Kakashi's attention – inside the bird's mouth was the Kazekage, but there appeared to be a second figure, perfectly alike, lying prone across the floor. Even with his Sharingan he couldn't differentiate between the two of them and, judging by the Hyuuga girl's gasp, Hinata's Byakugan was also unable to tell which was the real Gaara.

"What the Hell?" Shikamaru muttered, flicking his gaze from one Gaara to the other. "Is one of them a clone of some sort?"

"Must be," replied Kakashi, frowning heavily. "But I can't tell which one is the original… They must be trying to confuse and separate us."

Deidara gazed down at the assembled Konoha and Suna shinobi from his clay mount with a huge smile across his face. "Ah, look how awed they are by my artwork, yeah. They're all stunned into silence by the beauty of my creations!"

Sasori snorted. "You have no appreciation for the beauty of _true_ art. If they're stunned, it's because of how ugly that monstrosity of yours is."

The grin on Deidara's face twisted. "Well, if they think my creations are ugly, then I'll just have to convince them that my art… is a BANG!" With that, the explosives expert made a one handed seal in front of his face and the roof of the cave exploded, blasting upwards in a shower of grit and debris. At the same moment, Deidara's mount flapped its wings, launching itself up into the air and through the newly created hole in the cave's ceiling.

"Catch me if you can, yeah!" Deidara shouted down to the assembled Konoha and Suna ninja, as the bird wheeled about and soared through the sky, becoming more and more distant as it flew away from the cave.

"Show off," muttered Sasori, as he stepped forward in front of the body of fallen Kazekage and allowed his metallic tail to flex outwards from under his robes, poised above his head and swaying gently from side to side. Still, he had to admit that the clay user certainly had talent, despite his flamboyance. Just a pity that he had no artistic perception…

Without even thinking, Temari ran back out the cave's exit, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on the retreating form of the clay bird. Cursing, Shikamaru followed her, shouting, "Temari! Hold on a second!"

Analysing the situation quickly, Kakashi called out, "Naruto, we're going too! Hinata, Chiyo-baasama, you stay here and fight the other one. Gai's team will back you up as soon as they return!"

"Right!" Chiyo barked, stepping towards the bulky hunchback. "Hinata-san, get ready!"

Hinata nodded, not trusting her voice. Despite knowing that Chiyo was going to be fighting alongside her she felt very small and alone under the pitiless gaze of the Akatsuki member, and she could barely keep her fear under control. _'He… he looks so strong… and he has so much more battle experience than I do, it almost radiates from him. He must have killed so many people to be this powerful… I feel like I'm insignificant in front of him…'_

But before her panic completely overcame her, Hinata felt a large, warm hand rest gently on her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Naruto's dirt-smeared face ablaze with an encouraging smile that made him look more handsome than she had ever seen him before. He leaned in close to her ear, and whispered, "Kick his ass, Hinata-chan!" Then, with a squeeze of his hand he was gone, running purposefully out of the cave with Kakashi and leaving behind only his encouraging words, a grimy handprint on the shoulder of her jacket and a feeling of warmth and confidence coursing through the Hyuuga girl's body.

'_Naruto-kun... thank you,' _thought Hinata, taking a deep, calming breath and positioning herself into a Jyuuken stance, Byakugan eyes fixed on her target. _'Because of you… I don't feel small anymore. You always make me feel like I'm important. I wish that I'd been able to tell you how I feel… but I promise, after this fight is over, some day I will!'_

-o-o-

Neji had fought against all manner of Jyuuken users in his training sessions at the Hyuuga compound and prided himself for having one of the most intricate and flawless Gentle Fist styles of recent generations. He could spot all the subtle variations between one Hyuuga's style and another even without his Byakugan and took his training extremely seriously. But despite all his practice against his clan's preferred combat style he found himself completely unprepared to fight what was essentially his own mirror image that had just popped up out of the ground.

Standing opposite him in a wide field was a copy of himself, perfect in every single detail, right down to the Byakugan eyes focused on him. From what Neji could tell, it could even mimic the jutsus he used – both he and his doppelganger had bored several small craters into the ground with the **Hakkeshou Kaiten** technique and the copy had seemed to know all of his attack patterns without even trying, countering them almost before Neji had moved. It was starting to get frustrating, but Neji made certain to stay calm and watchful, on his guard for any counterattacks and prepared for an opening in which he could strike.

Judging by the heavy breathing, grunts and frustrated shouts coming through his radio, his teammates didn't seem to be quite so collected as they faced their own duplicates.

The fake Neji leapt forward, right arm leading into a scything Jyuuken strike that the real Hyuuga prodigy ducked under, pivoting on one foot and launching a series of devastating chakra strikes of his own with a shout of, **"****Hakke Rokujuuyonshou!"** Jabbing with his index and middle fingers, Neji aimed for his opponent's tenketsu, attempting to damage the inner chakra coils, but to his dismay, not a single one of his blows connected with a chakra point on his copy's body as the fake Neji yelled out, **"Kaiten!"**

Neji was forced backwards as his copy span forcefully, becoming a whirring vortex of blue as he expelled chakra from all over his body all at once to block against Neji's attack.

The original landed lightly on his feet, noting with disgust that his opponent wasn't even out of breath yet. _'The appearance…the same techniques that I use… the same power behind them…it's exactly like fighting myself,' _he thought, watching as his opponent mirrored his stance to perfection. _'This jutsu… just how far are the Akatsuki prepared to go in order to keep outsiders away from their base?'_

Neji was interrupted from his thoughts by the radio around his neck buzzing with a burst of static and Kakashi's terse voice sounding through the speaker. "Everyone, this is Kakashi speaking. Get back to the cave now, we have engaged the Akatsuki members in combat. I repeat, we have engaged the Akatsuki members in combat! Hinata and Chiyo-baasama are fighting one member in the cave itself, and the rest of us are pursuing the other. We need you to back the two of them up as soon as possible!"

"I'm afraid we can't do that, Kakashi," answered Gai, his voice tense. "All of us have fallen into an Akatsuki jutsu placed on the tags as we removed them. I apologise, my eternal rival, but I fear that it may take us some time."

"Shit!" swore Kakashi, his voice muffled by the radio's reception. "Then it looks like we don't have a choice – Chiyo-baasama and Hinata will have to fight on their own until you can get back to the cave and help them."

"But the two of them can't really fight an Akatsuki member head on, can they?" asked Tenten, worry apparent in her voice even over the crackly radio reception. "I mean, I know Hinata and Chiyo-baasama must be strong, but these guys are seriously good. I can't even imagine how powerful a real Akatsuki member is if the man we fought on the way here was just a fake."

Lee voiced his own agreement of the situation as well. "Though both Hinata-san and Chiyo-baasama surely burn with youthful energy, I too am worried for their safety against such a dangerous opponent."

"Yeah, I know, but we don't really have any other options here," grunted Kakashi. "Until you guys can give them some support, Chiyo-baasama and Hinata will just have to hold him off for as long as they can."

"Excuse me," interrupted Neji, a tone of faint disapproval in his voice, "But I think you are underestimating Hinata-sama here. I have been monitoring her progress in my sparring sessions with her, and I have noticed a marked improvement in her ability over the last two-and-a-half years. I have every confidence that she will be able to hold her own against the Akatsuki member… and who knows? Perhaps she will even surprise some of you…"

'_And maybe even myself,'_ he added in his head.

There was a pause after his short speech as the others absorbed his words. "Then Lee shouted, "YOSH!" so loud that everyone winced, clutching their ears at the volume of the spandex clad ninja's voice through their earpieces. "Neji-san is right! We must believe in our comrades above all else! I would be proud to show my faith in the abilities of both Hinata-san and Chiyo-baasama!"

"Neji, it seems that underneath your icy exterior you are also at one with the spirit of youth," Gai announced grandly, chuckling. "Very well! Until we are able to overcome the obstacles in our path, we shall put our trust in their durability and vigorous energy. I have every confidence that they will not let us down!"

-o-o-

Deidara could hardly believe his luck. Not only had he managed to divide the Konoha and Suna ninja up without any hassle at all, but he had also left Sasori, along with the real Ichibi container, with just two ninja to face – an old woman that looked like she should be in a retirement home and a meek looking teenage girl.

He had managed to lead the four ninja currently on his tail into a steep-sided valley with thick tree roots criss-crossing in mid-air. The squad chasing him were using the roots as stepping stones, leaping from one to another in order to pursue him, but it was clear that although they were able to keep up, none of them could actually land an attack on him at such a long range. For now, Deidara was just happy to let them keep chasing him, as it meant that they were being drawn further and further away from the base and the Jinchuuriki brat.

Far below the giant clay bird, Kakashi, Naruto, Shikamaru and Temari were moving as fast as they could, trying to catch up to the Akatsuki member. Temari had attempted to knock the bird out of the sky with a few mighty swings of her fan, but it was so high that it was out of range – her attacks petered out before they could reach it and the clay creation continued gliding without any hindrance.

Kakashi groaned as the reception of his radio went fuzzy, before dying completely. Evidently the distance between himself and Gai's team meant that they were outside the broadcasting range and Shikamaru picked up on it immediately.

"So, we're on our own now, right?" the shadow using chuunin asked, ducking under a particularly large root and keeping his eyes fixed on the distant outline of the clay bird.

"Looks that way," confirmed Kakashi. "Do you think you can snare that bird's shadow?"

Shikamaru shook his head, scowling. "It's moving too fast," he grunted sourly. "If it keeps flying at that speed there's no way I'll be able to catch it."

"I could use my fan as a glider and take him on in aerial combat," suggested Temari, glaring at the far off figure of the Akatsuki man and gripping the base of her fan tightly.

"You'd be too exposed to his clay bombs if you tried to face him in the open air, without cover," Kakashi countered. "These tree roots are the only thing protecting us from the explosive attacks he uses – without them we'd be sitting ducks."

"Well what can we do then, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Naruto agitatedly. "If we don't have any long range attacks to hit him, how are we supposed to get Gaara back?"

"Oh I didn't say we didn't have any long range attacks, Naruto," Kakashi replied easily. "I didn't want to have to use it as anything other than a last resort, but we don't have any other choice."

"Huh?" Naruto frowned, scrunching up his face in surprise. "Sensei, do you have a jutsu that can hit him? I didn't know you could attack from this sort of distance…hey, wait, how come you're only using it now?"

Kakashi smiled slightly at both the praise and the blonde boy's indignation, before jumping to the front of the group. "Simple, Naruto," he answered, gathering his chakra and slowly allowing it to build in his Sharingan eye. "Firstly, this technique takes a lot of chakra, which means it takes a little bit of time to prepare for. But more importantly, the direction of the attack is very difficult to control – if I get it wrong I could end up crushing all of us to atoms."

Naruto winced at the mental image, but it was Temari who responded to the copy nin's explanation. "How soon can you launch this attack of yours?" she asked urgently.

"A couple of minutes should be enough," said Kakashi, his back to the rest of the team. Then he turned around to face them, his Sharingan eye gleaming red and the tomoe inside it spinning rapidly. Smiling at the shocked expressions on the faces of each of the young ninja, he light-heartedly added, "Hopefully I won't miss."

-o-o-

"Hinata-san, stay behind me," ordered Chiyo in a low voice. "I know this man's techniques well; he uses puppet jutsus."

The Akatsuki member chuckled, his voice reverberating throughout the cave from the hole in the side of his face. "It's nice to know that you haven't forgotten about me, dearest _grandmother._"

"Ano… G-Grandmother?" Hinata repeated, eyes flicking to Chiyo's face in shock. "Chiyo-baasama, is this the grandson that you were speaking of earlier?"

The elderly Suna kunoichi nodded, eyes hard. "Yes. His name is Akasuna no Sasori, master puppeteer and former Suna ninja. He left the village many years ago, without any warning, and is considered a traitor for his crimes. He's long past redemption, but even now…" She paused momentarily and let out a sigh. "I can't help but think of him and see the face of the young, lonely orphan boy that I raised myself…"

Chiyo reached up and removed the small hat on her head, throwing it aside and letting her grey hair fall from the knot it had been tied in. Raising her gaze, she continued tiredly, "However, this is no time for sentimentality. The only reason I chose to accept this mission was to kill Sasori and if I get the chance I will take it without hesitating." She turned to face Hinata, a smile creasing her lined face. "After all, I must fight for the people precious to me."

"Yes," Hinata breathed out, smiling with gratitude at the Suna village elder before shifting her focus back to the bulky Akatsuki ninja.

"Are you two going to talk all day?" Sasori growled, metallic tail behind him twitching slightly as he stepped forward, nudging Gaara's unconscious body aside with his foot. "I don't like to be kept waiting…" With a grunt the former Suna nin ripped his cloak off and squatted down onto all fours, revealing a large metallic canister on his left arm and a bulky mask positioned on his back, from which the segmented tail was sprouting like a metallic plant. The puppet user chuckled darkly. "When I kill the two of you, I'm going to skin you, gut you and add you both to my puppet hoard. That will make exactly three-hundred bodies in my collection."

"That's not his r-real body…" Hinata noted in a whisper, her Byakugan scanning Sasori's wooden armour thoroughly. "It's a puppet… Chiyo-baasama… you said you knew him before he left Suna… does that m-mean you know his techniques?"

Chiyo frowned at Sasori's body. "Some of them. I know that this puppet is called Hiruko, though it looks different from when I last saw it. Sasori must have modified it. However, what is certain is that Sasori himself is lodged inside it, controlling it from the inside using chakra strings. One of the usual weaknesses of using puppets in combat is that the puppeteer leaves themselves open to attack. By using this Hiruko as armour Sasori has solved that problem, which means that if we are to defeat him we must break through the puppet's defences first. But we will need to be very careful – all of Sasori's creations use hidden weapons, tipped with the same poison used against Kankuro-san, and we have no antidote."

"But if you have seen this puppet before, doesn't that m-mean that you would know about the secret weapons?" Hinata asked hesitantly.

Chiyo shook her head. "In his adaptations to Hiruko, Sasori is sure to have updated his traps. That shell on his back is also new to me, as is his left arm. We must not take anything for granted."

Hinata thought for a second. "How will we be able to damage the body of Hiruko, Chiyo-baasama? Those defences… they look v-very powerful…"

Chiyo hummed thoughtfully. "I don't think either of us possess the raw strength needed to shatter Hiruko, but do you see that hole in the side of its face? A powerful connection there should be enough to destroy the puppet and force Sasori to reveal himself. With your Byakugan eyes, you should be able to avoid all his traps and get in close enough to land a hit."

"You… you r-really think that I'll be able to?" Hinata asked worriedly. "I don't know if I'm strong or fast enough…"

"You should be more confident in your own abilities, Hinata-san," Chiyo laughed, shaking her head slightly at the Hyuuga girl's customary meekness, even in the face of battle. "You may not have the experience, but that is what I am here for."

Seeing Hinata still seemed a little uncertain, the elderly Suna kunoichi smirked slyly, the wrinkles in her face becoming less pronounced for a second. "Trust me; I'm not some helpless, crotchety old hag, you know!" she added playfully. "Now, let's go!"

Without any further warning Chiyo ran towards Sasori in a crouch, keeping her centre of gravity low to the ground and reducing the target for Sasori to aim at. Overcoming her initial surprise at the direct method Chiyo had chosen to begin the attack, Hinata followed right behind her, hands glowing a faint blue as she prepared for a Jyuuken palm strike.

Sasori's puppet stood completely motionless, other than the tail which moved to block the hole on the side of its face. With a practiced sliding sound Hiruko's mouth opened and out of it a barrage of poison-tipped senbon were fired, glinting menacingly in the sunlight piercing through the hole in the roof of the cave. Spinning on her front foot and acting completely on instinct, Hinata shouted, **"Kaiten!"** as she forced chakra out of all her tenketsu at once, silently thanking Neji for teaching her the Hyuuga clan's ultimate defensive technique. It had taken her a huge amount of time and effort to master it, but without it those needles would have turned her into a pincushion.

The chakra sphere deflected all of the poisoned senbon before they could connect with her, and seizing the opportunity Chiyo leapt over the whirling Hyuuga heiress, reaching inside her robes and withdrawing a string of kunai in each hand. With a flick of each wrist and a crack like a whip Chiyo sent the weapons flying towards Sasori's puppet, but they were quickly blocked by the puppet's tail, acting as a shield.

'_Gotcha!'_ thought Chiyo triumphantly as she tweaked her fingers and formed a chakra string, which she lashed around the long metallic tail, halting its movement and pulling it slightly to the side, away from his face. Sasori's eyes widened in surprise as he lost control of the metal appendage and in the brief second that the gap in the wooden puppet's face was unprotected Hinata sprinted inside his guard, spinning under his stationary tail. Aiming for the hole in his head, she cried out, **"Juuho Soushiken!" **Two spectral lion heads formed from the ends of both her fists, which she rammed as hard as she could in tandem into the gap in Hiruko's face.

The wooden puppet shattered into fragments, unable to withstand the force of the Hyuuga girl's blows, but just before the attack connected Hinata's Byakugan eyes picked up a red headed figure that must have been Sasori jumping out of Hiruko's back, like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis, into the corner of the cavern, where the light coming from the caved in roof was dimmest. The Hyuuga heiress was surprised at the speed he had moved at – after being crammed inside the puppet for so long she would have thought that his muscles would have been cramped and sore, but the man had moved totally naturally.

"Hmm…" said Sasori thoughtfully, straightening from the crouched position that he landed in and taking a step closer to the kunoichi. Hinata gave him a quick scan with her Byakugan – he was of average height, with a mop of red hair and an Akatsuki robe drawn around him. But there was something strange about him too – his youthful face seemed almost _too_ tender and unlined – it looked as though it belonged to a young child. And his chakra flow was unusual as well; rather than flowing through his entire body's chakra network, it seemed just to be fixed in one specific spot in his chest…

Hinata was distracted from her musings as Sasori began to speak once again. "I must admit that I'm quite impressed," he continued in a melancholy voice. "My grandmother's puppetry skills have not decreased in my absence, I see. And you, girl… your attacks are both powerful and accurate… and those eyes of yours… Yes, you will make a fine addition to my collection."

Hinata repressed a shiver at his macabre words, but Chiyo gasped out loud, disbelief in her eyes. "Sasori…" she whispered, unable to break eye contact with her long lost grandson. "You haven't aged a day!"

Sasori smiled thinly. "You certainly have though, grandmother. Liver spots… wrinkles…the plague of old age is an ugly one indeed."

"I may be old, but I'm not quite ready to die just yet!" Chiyo retorted. "I have too many regrets to take with me to the grave!"

Sasori merely smiled and reached behind his back, pulling out a scroll which he quickly unfurled. With a puff of smoke another puppet materialised, connected to the missing Suna nin's fingers with chakra strings and poised over him like an ugly spider. "Is that so? Well, now I will show you both the true beauty of my art, with my favourite creation."

Just from her first glance Hinata could immediately tell that there was something different about this puppet compared with Hiruko. It had a hole in its chest where its heart should have been and seemed oddly human with its wide, staring eyes and long black hair, despite quite obviously being made out of wooden joints. And there was something else too… Hinata blinked. It had its own chakra source! Surely that was impossible! Only living creatures could have a chakra network! But her Byakugan eyes never lied, so what did it mean?

Chiyo's eyes widened as she saw the puppet Sasori was now controlling, and she clenched her hands into fists. "How?" she whispered, horrified. "How could you do something like this? That puppet of yours is the Sandaime Kazekage! He vanished from our village over ten years ago!"

Sasori's smile grew slightly. "Yes, this is my most prized puppet. Very difficult to obtain, but certainly worth the effort. After all, he was the most powerful ninja in Suna's history… other than myself."

Chiyo hissed angrily. "You betrayed our village just by leaving, but attacking our Kazekage is unforgivable! And you have the audacity to do this not just once, but three times?" Chiyo spat on the cave floor in disgust. "You are the worst kind of traitor!"

"Oh? I was under the impression that I had only attacked the Third and Fifth Kazekages," Sasori answered pleasantly, gesturing to the prone body of Gaara and the puppet connected to his fingers. "Unless you were referring to the Fourth Kazekage that Orochimaru killed, back when he was my partner in the Akatsuki."

Hinata jerked her head up at the puppet user's words, barely suppressing a shout. "Y-You know about Orochimaru?" she asked urgently, remembering her promise to Sakura before she had left Suna.

"Hmm? What about it? That is no concern of yours," Sasori replied coolly. "Besides… you have more important things to worry about!"

With a jerk of his fingers, the Kazekage puppet flew forwards through the air like a nightmarish bat, robes flapping behind it like leathery wings. From one of its arms a brutal array of hooked blades appeared, each one dripping with a deadly poison. Hinata was caught off guard, but as she raised her hands to try and block the incoming attack she was jerked off her feet as she felt something dragging her from behind. With the extended range of her Byakugan, she realised that Chiyo was pulling her out of the way with chakra strings, attached to her back from the elderly woman's fingertips. The puppet's slicing attack whistled through the air where Hinata had been just a second ago and the Hyuuga girl breathed a sigh of relief. However, in spite of her reprieve she chastised herself for not being ready – it was Chiyo's quick thinking and impressive reaction times that had just saved her. Against an opponent as powerful as Sasori clearly was, she knew she would have to maintain her focus at all times. Even a single mistake could be fatal.

As the puppet's hooked scythes missed their target, Sasori flexed the middle finger on his right hand and the left arm of the puppet split apart, the sections of arm expanding outwards. As they clicked into place Sasori grunted and out of the extended sections a barrage of wooden, pipe-like arms exploded, thick as a tree trunk and aiming to squash Hinata flat.

The Hyuuga heiress tried to move her body to dodge, but Chiyo shouted, "Hinata-san, let me control you! These chakra strings allow me to manipulate your body! Trust me!"

Despite all of her instincts screaming at her to get out of the way of the oncoming storm of wooden arms, Hinata tried to let her body relax as much as she could, hoping to make it easier for Chiyo to move her. Still, it felt extremely odd to have her limbs moving without her guidance – it was like she was watching herself move, with her mind and body separate, and the physical sensations were even stranger; her body felt almost weightless.

Sasori watched on, the faintest hint of a frown marring his perfectly smooth face as the arms arced upwards and hammered down, trapping Hinata beneath them in a forest of hands. But the girl had managed to flex her body with the help of Chiyo's chakra strings to avoid the extending limbs without even a scratch. _'As long as my grandmother is controlling this girl, there is no way for me to land a hit,' _he thought to himself logically. _'Therefore I must separate them to connect with a decisive blow…'_

Spread out across the floor with extending arms surrounding her in every direction, Hinata was surprised at how precise the puppet strings were. There was no room to manoeuvre at all between the wooden limbs, but Chiyo had not only managed to find a gap but also shown superb finger dexterity in order to bend Hinata's body so that it would avoid the crushing hands.

But as Hinata got back to her feet, still under Chiyo's control, all of a sudden the pipe attached to one of the hands split open, releasing a cloud of poisonous gas into the air. At the same time, a kunai shot out of a second wooden pipe, trailing a cord behind it. The rope wrapped around the startled Hinata's waist before she could move, and the noxious cloud of gas enveloped her before she could do more than suck in a quick, deep breath.

"Hinata-san!" shouted Chiyo, panicking as she realised that with the rope wrapped around the Hyuuga girl there was no way to pull her out of the smoke. "Hold on, I'm coming!"

Sasori narrowed his eyes. "No, you aren't," he warned, flexing his fingers slightly. Immediately a huge section of pipe all split open at once and a volley of kunai flew directly at the Suna village elder. With a grunt she pulled two scrolls from her sleeves and flared her chakra. Two puffs of smoke announced the success of her summoning, and two puppets appeared out of mid-air, blocking all the weapons.

Sasori's eyes widened a fraction and, just for the briefest instant, flashed with recognition and longing. "So… you decided to bring my parents with you…"

Chiyo ignored his voice, desperately looking for any way past him so that she could reach Hinata in the poisonous haze. The cloud was so thick that she couldn't see what was happening inside it, but if Hinata had been tied up then she feared the worst. If the shy Hyuuga girl breathed in any fumes at all then she was all but certain to be dead.

Then, without any warning, Hinata flew backwards through the deadly smog, landing awkwardly in a heap on the floor and taking the deepest, most satisfying, desperate breath of her life, before doubling over, coughing heavily due to the lack of oxygen.

"Hinata-san!" shouted Chiyo anxiously. "Are you alright? Have you breathed in any of the fumes?"

Coughing fit subsiding, Hinata weakly shook her head. "N-No," she whispered, breathing hoarsely. "I couldn't r-reach my kunai pouch to cut myself free, but n-next to me on the ground w-were the remains of Sasori's original puppet, Hiruko. I m-managed to cut through the cord using Hiruko's tail as a s-s-saw blade, and then I –"

Hinata's explanation was interrupted by another bout of coughing, but Chiyo's eyes widened at the brief description of her escape. _'Hinata-san… even when in a position of such danger, she still kept her head and looked for an escape without panicking. Such ingenuity and quick thinking is rare even in experienced shinobi, and yet this girl is just a teenager!'_ Chiyo shook her head slightly, a small smile on her lips. _'I was wrong about Suna only being able to rely on itself… with allies like this girl, our village will prosper.'_

Trembling from the after effects of the coughing fit and the effort to stand up again, Hinata managed to get back to her feet, with help from the chakra strings still attached to her. Her throat still felt like it was on fire, and she was still breathing heavily, but she couldn't give up. Not now. Not when she was so close to finding out about Orochimaru and helping Naruto and Sakura find Sasuke.

Sasori studied the Hyuuga heiress with mild curiosity as she staggered to her feet, before regaining her balance. After scrutinizing her thoroughly for a few seconds he turned his gaze back to the puppets of his parents. "What exactly do you plan on achieving by summoning my parents here, grandmother?" he asked, sounding completely disinterested. "I was the one that built those puppets – trying to trap me with my own traps is futile."

Chiyo didn't answer, instead just disconnecting the chakra strings from Hinata and clasping her hands together. Both puppets raised an arm, and Sasori's mother and father pressed hands briefly, mimicking Chiyo's actions. As the elderly Suna kunoichi spread her arms out wide, the marionettes followed her movement, separating, and Hinata could see that the two puppets were holding strands of thin, razor sharp wire between them, almost invisible but for the reflecting sunlight.

With a grunt, Chiyo flicked her wrists and both puppets launched forwards, straight towards the pipes that had been created by the Sandaime Kazekage. With the wire thread trailing between them, the two puppets passed either side of the forest of arms and the taut wire cut through the wooden structure, severing it from the original arm of the Kazekage's puppet. The puppets continued flying through the air and withdrew a heavy array of hidden weapons of their own. With a clash of metal against metal, Chiyo's puppets engaged Sasori's wooden pawn in mid-air, slicing and hacking away with all manner of whirling blades. Even with her Byakugan active Hinata was only just able to keep up with the parries, thrusts and dodges – both Chiyo and Sasori were moving almost as quickly as their marionettes and there was no pause in their movements whatsoever.

Eventually the three puppets broke apart from the aerial combat, with Sasori drawing the Third Kazekage back to his side. With a flex of his hand the puppet's mouth dropped open and Hinata could hear a very faint hissing coming from inside it.

"I think that I have wasted enough time here," announced Sasori, as the hissing noise became a trickle, which in turn became a rushing, cascading sound as something black and gritty poured out of the mouth of the Akatsuki member's puppet. "It is time to show the two of you why the Sandaime Kazekage was seen as the strongest Kazekage of them all." Sasori smiled serenely. "I hope that both of you are prepared to die."

"Chiyo-baasama… w-what is that?" Hinata asked quietly, as the blackness shifted, rising above the puppet's head like a swarm of insects.

"That is what made the Kazekage so strong," Chiyo replied in a whisper, keeping her eyes fully focused on the floating cloud of dark dust. "The iron sand technique. The Sandaime had the ability to convert his chakra into magnetism and using that he could turn this sand into any shape he wished."

Hinata frowned slightly, confused. "But this puppet, even if it has a chakra s-source of some kind, shouldn't be able to perform its own jutsus, should it?"

Chiyo shook her head. "Normally, that would be the case, but this is no ordinary puppet. It was originally a human, which means that the chakra it possessed when it was alive has been preserved, and it has the same chakra and the same techniques as it did when it was alive. Only Sasori is able to create these 'human puppets'…" Chiyo trailed off and chewed her bottom lip anxiously. "Hinata-san, I think it would be best if you left now."

"W-What?" asked Hinata, shocked and slightly hurt by Chiyo's sudden decision. "But why? I won't be a burden, I swear!"

"Hinata-san, Sasori is stronger than I could have possibly expected. If you got hurt because of me…" Chiyo closed her eyes tiredly, looking very old for a second. "Go and help Kakashi-san and the rest of his team track down the other Akatsuki member. I will be fine here, don't worry about me."

Hinata felt torn. She couldn't disobey an order from a superior, but the thought of abandoning Chiyo, alone in this dark cavern against her maniacal grandson made her feel cold inside. "Ano… Chiyo-baasama, I can't just leave you here," she murmured quietly. "I can't turn my b-back on my comrades… because that is my nindo."

Chiyo gazed open mouthed at the Hyuuga heiress, struggling to comprehend her words. "Hinata-san… do you not understand? You should get out of here whilst you still have a chance!"

"Whoever said anyone was allowed to leave?" Sasori interrupted, the iron sand above his head suddenly splitting into dozens of tiny round balls. **"Satetsu Shigure!"**

With a whizzing sound the small balls of iron sand fell through the air towards Hinata and Chiyo like shadowy rainfall. Quickly, and with a hint of desperation, Chiyo made some hand movements and the mother puppet pushed Hinata away to safety. Meanwhile, the father puppet moved in front of Chiyo, its arms outstretched and separated into sections which fanned from its hands in a sphere. As the iron sand bullets connected with the puppet's arms they dissipated, deflected by some sort of invisible force.

"A chakra shield?" Sasori asked inquisitively. "You've upgraded my old puppets, it seems."

Chiyo barely heard his voice as she thought back to the times in the past when Sasori would control the puppets of his mother and father, trying to fool himself into thinking he had his real parents back. The elderly Suna puppet user couldn't quell the faintest flicker of sadness and pity for her grandson, but when she heard a faint hissing noise and the father puppet's joints seemed to lock up she pushed aside all her memories of her grandson's childhood. She couldn't afford to feel even the slightest amount of weakness against an opponent as lethal as Sasori, she reminded herself, despite the last vestiges of affection and care that still resided in her heart for him.

As Chiyo focused on the suddenly frozen puppet protecting her, she saw the iron sand spreading from its joints and worked out what had happened. The iron sand had somehow managed to worm its way into the marionette to completely immobilize it; defending against the magnetised sand clearly wasn't an option. And as the sand gathered above the puppet of the Kazekage again, Chiyo realised that a second attack was coming and she only had one puppet left with which to block the sand.

"One of you is about to die," said Sasori in a toneless voice. **"Satetsu Shigure!"**

The small clumps of iron sand, fully accumulated, flashed through the air towards both Chiyo and Hinata with a high pitched whine. They connected with the ground, cracking the rock floor of the cave and sending a small dust cloud into the air around both women, obscuring them from Sasori's sight.

With her Byakugan, Hinata saw everything happening in slow motion, with the colours faded and blurred like blotted ink. She could see Chiyo, desperately manipulating the second of her two puppets to aid Hinata, but it was too late – the sand was already falling and the puppet wouldn't make it in time. Hinata moved like she was in a trance, visualising the Hyuuga eight palms trigram on the floor of the cave. Slowly, she raised her arms and began to move them from side to side, then up and down, then diagonally, and repeated the movements, increasing in speed._ 'I can do this!'_ she thought determinedly, allowing a thin, concentrated stream of chakra to spread from her fingertips in a straight line. _'I can do this! I won't be a burden this time!'_

The magnetised bullets impacted against the lines of chakra Hinata was drawing through the air and with a cry of, **"****Shugo Hakke Rokujuuyonshou!" **the iron sand was repulsed by the lattice barrier, falling to the ground lifelessly. Her defensive jutsu completed, Hinata stumbled slightly, resting her hands on her knees and breathing heavily. This technique always took a lot out of her, but she didn't think that an ordinary **Hakkeshou Kaiten **would have been enough to knock the magnetic sand away.

With her family's kekkei genkai she looked up to see whether Chiyo had been able to defend herself from the iron sand, and was relieved to see that the Suna kunoichi was still standing. Chiyo had been able to block the attack safely, it seemed… with her own arm?

The Hidden Sand Village elder allowed the chakra shield on her right arm to fade away as the iron sand trickled limply to the ground, openly staring at Hinata. Her own method had been effective enough to block the attack, but she was hugely impressed by the Hyuuga girl's own defensive measures. For a few horrifying moments, when she had realised that her puppet wouldn't make it in time, the elderly kunoichi had thought that Hinata was about to die. That thought had scared her. In fact, it had made her feel more afraid than she had felt in a very long time. The idea of helplessly watching the shy young girl, with so many hopes and dreams for the future, have her life snuffed out in this tomb-like cave was almost unbearable. But then Hinata had performed a wondrous display of chakra control and flexibility and Chiyo had been left watching in wonder.

"Oh…" Sasori smiled, watching both of the kunoichi opposing him with a slightly increased respect. "You both managed to block my attack. Grandmother… you've rigged your arm to become a puppet limb… and the Konoha kunoichi used a barrier technique of some kind… I don't think I know any Hyuuga techniques like that one."

"That's because… that w-was my own jutsu," Hinata gasped out. The amount of chakra she had used in that technique was starting to catch up with her, and she was already feeling tired. She wasn't certain how much longer she would be able to fight, but she knew she wouldn't give up. _'This is a fight that I can't afford to lose!' _she reminded herself fiercely. _'Naruto-kun and Sakura-san are relying on me to find out about Orochimaru for them! I can't let them down!'_

"Is that so?" Sasori answered pleasantly. "It was certainly unique… but judging by how tired you seem to be, it looks like you can only use it a limited number of times… and the same goes for you, grandmother."

Sure enough, Chiyo looked down at her right arm and saw that the iron sand had infiltrated into the joints, preventing the limb from moving. At the same time, the mother puppet keeled over stiffly, metal filings spreading from the gaps in it like a disease.

"You have no more puppets," noted Sasori, flexing the fingers of his left hand. Immediately, the metallic sand controlled by the Kazekage began forming into shapes, much larger this time. The structures forming in mid-air slowly grew larger and larger in size until they finally stopped growing, with two blocks several metres long, one a cone and one a cube, fully formed.

Chiyo's eyes flickered from her grandson to the Kazekage's puppet to the iron blocks, desperately hoping to find some sort of weakness. It didn't look good at all. But her thoughts were interrupted by a small but insistent voice.

"Ano… Chiyo-baasama, please use me as a puppet."

Chiyo looked down at Hinata with astonishment. "Hinata-san, do you understand what you're saying? With only one arm I can't totally control you like I was before, and with the magnetism of the Sandaime's puppet active you can't use weapons like kunai or shuriken. You should take this opportunity to leave, now!"

Hinata shook her head stubbornly. "N-No, I have to help, and this is the best that I can do. I know that I d-don't have any hidden traps like your other puppets, but my Jyuuken is designed for unarmed combat and I won't give up!"

Left speechless at the passionate response, Chiyo wordlessly attached chakra strings from her left hand to Hinata. The Hyuuga girl's obstinancy was surprising, but then again, reflected Chiyo, this girl was just surprising in general. Her first impression of the Konoha kunoichi had been a shy, timid girl that had been blessed with a legendary kekkei genkai from birth but was still only average in skill. That view had changed entirely now.

"You're going to try controlling the girl again?" Sasori asked his grandmother. "I'm disappointed… I expected you to be more resourceful than this."

Hinata tensed her leg muscles and leapt forward, just as Sasori clenched the fingers of his right hand. Instantly the cone shape launched forward, smashing into the ground and sending rubble flying as it broke up the floor of the cave into shattered pieces. As Hinata landed, the massive metallic cube positioned itself right above her and hammered down, aiming to crush her flat.

However, Chiyo jerked her back slightly just in time, and Hinata saw an opportunity as the cube slowly began to rise back into the air. Drawing chakra into her fingertips, she jabbed at the metal block with a Jyuuken strike and for a few seconds the sand lost its shape, beginning to return to its original individual grains. But within a few seconds the iron sand regained its cohesion, becoming solid again, and Hinata was thankful that she had Chiyo's help to dodge the huge blocks and counterattack with her Jyuuken strikes whenever she saw any openings.

As she was dodging and weaving to avoid the iron sand, Hinata made certain to keep her Byakugan concentrated on Sasori's hands. The attack patterns he was using seemed to be repeated by his finger movements. First the cone would stab sideways, with Sasori clenching the fingers of his right hand. Then it would rise, which Hinata could predict by the way he slowly flexed his middle and index fingers. Then the cube would position itself above her, whenever he twitched the index finger of his left hand. And then it would fall downwards, shown by the way that the puppet master would cross the fingers of his right and left hands at the same time. The pattern rarely seemed to alter, though Sasori added a few minor variations on a couple of occasions, for which Hinata had to improvise. She managed to run alongside the edge of the cube when it had come in from a sideways direction rather than falling from above her head and she had been forced to use another **Hakkeshou Kaiten** when the cone had tried to trap her against the wall of the cave, but with Chiyo's help these incidents were becoming more and more infrequent.

Sasori was starting to feel slightly irritated as Hinata slapped her chakra infused palm against the cone for the umpteenth time as he manoeuvred the iron sand into position for yet another attack. The Hyuuga girl was breathing heavily, but it had only taken her one or two dodges before she could see the entirety of the attack pattern. _'This is beginning to become problematic,' _he thought to himself, as Hinata jumped back from the falling iron cube without even needing Chiyo's prompt. _'She's constantly watching me, analysing my hand movements and predicting my attacks… I should finish this now.'_

Suddenly the hole in the Kazekage's chest began to glow and Sasori shouted, **"Satetsu Kaihou!"** The cone and the cube, rather than continuing their attacks against Hinata, changed direction and collided in mid air, forming one huge block of iron sand that took up most of the remaining ceiling. And then, like watching a speeded up vision of a tree growing, the sand extended outwards in a lattice pattern, each point tipped with a sharp spike and a deadly poison.

Chiyo gasped at the monumental scale of the attack and Hinata stood frozen with fear as the network of vicious barbs slowly extended towards her, taking up all of the space in the cave. She was too far from the exit to get there before the spikes impaled her and even if she could have made it in time, what good would it do? The puppet would just follow her outside and she would still be killed either way. Hinata shook her head, willing herself to find some way of countering this attack, but her mind had gone blank. The only thing she could think of was, _'Naruto-kun… I never got the chance to tell you how much I love you…'_

As the extending lattice came closer and closer, Hinata could picture Naruto in her head, always brave and defiant in the face of any opponent. As the foremost spike came within mere inches of her body a new found resolve burned through her veins like molten steel, Naruto's determined face imprinted in her mind's eye, and she desperately screamed out, **"Kaiten!"** at the top of her voice. She began spinning, burning blue chakra pouring out from her body, and the spikes connected.

There was a horrible screeching noise as the metal was torn apart by the power of the whirling vortex and just for a fraction of a second a pathway to the puppet formed. Still spinning, Hinata pulled out a kunai with an explosive note attached and hurled it straight into the hole in the iron sand wielding puppet's chest.

The resulting explosion was spectacular, lighting up the inside of the cave and bringing the remains of the roof down with an earth shattering boom. The Kazekage puppet fell through the air, a burning mass of broken wood, and collapsed to the fragmented, rocky floor along with the iron sand it was controlling.

The sand in the joints of Chiyo's arm also crumbled away, leaving the elderly Suna kunoichi able to move it freely once again. She stared at Hinata in amazement as the Hyuuga girl slowly stopped spinning, the arm that threw the kunai still raised. Her breathing was labored and her hair was sticking to her forehead with sweat, but her eyes were filled with a blazing determination, focused entirely on the Akatsuki's puppet master.

Sasori furrowed his brow slightly, staring back at the Hyuuga girl. _'Not only did she manage to defend against that attack, she was even able to launch a counter strike… More human puppets won't work, seeing as the Sandaime Kazekage was the strongest in my possession. Looks like I have no other choice.' _Slowly he began to unbutton his Akatsuki robe.

Chiyo stared at her grandson with increasing horror as he revealed more and more of his body, before finally letting the cloud patterned uniform flutter to the floor. Sprouting out of his back were what looked like two extra arms, but instead of fingers they ended with five gleaming metal blades, and from his stomach cavity extended a long, winding cord, covered in grease and tipped with a sharp spike. But most disgusting of all, on the left side of his chest there was a pulsating cylinder with his own name written on it, beating faintly like the mockery of a heart that it was. "Sasori… you turned yourself into a human puppet…" whispered Chiyo, averting her gaze away from the monstrosity that her grandson had become. "What have you done to yourself?"

"It has been a very long time since I have used myself in battle," murmured Sasori, flexing his arms forward. With a faint click, a nozzle appeared in the palm of each hand. Then, with a roar, a jet of fire blasted out of the spouts in his hands, heading straight for Chiyo and Hinata. Both women quickly dived to the side and dropped to the floor, shielded from the biting flames by large chunks of rubble.

Hinata tried to breathe as shallowly as possible, but the air was so hot that it was painful and there was a sickening smell in the air. With a shudder she realised that it was the tips of her hair sizzling from the heat and tried to press her body even closer to the ground to avoid the inferno.

After several seconds, Sasori's fire eventually died out as a canister attached to his back disintegrated. Hinata and Chiyo emerged from their hiding places, gulping in the fresh air, but before they could do any more than stand up Sasori's chest cord fired out like a harpoon straight towards Hinata. The Hyuuga heiress settled into a defensive Jyuuken stance as the spike flashed through the air towards her, but instead of hitting her it passed right over her head, burying itself in the rock behind her. As it dug into the rock face, the cord began to retract, sending Sasori's body whistling through the air past Hinata and directly towards Chiyo, with the spines sticking out of his back extended and spinning viciously to slice her in half.

"Chiyo-baasama!" Hinata shouted fearfully, as Sasori's whirring blades closed in on her, ready to cut her to pieces. But just before he connected, Chiyo pulled a scroll out from a small pouch around her waist and barked out, **"Shirahigi: Jikki Chikamatsu no Shuu!"** The summoning contract emitted a puff of smoke and the elderly woman was lost from sight. Sasori withdrew from the cloud of smoke, a quizzical expression on his face.

Chiyo stepped out of the smoke a few seconds later, completely calm despite how close she had just come to being slashed by Sasori's built-in weapons. Surrounding the Suna village elder were ten white cloaked puppets, each connected to one of Chiyo's fingers by chakra strings.

Chiyo sighed as she flexed her fingers, making sure that all of the puppets were functioning correctly. "I promised myself I would never use this technique again, but desperate times call for desperate measures."

"Ah yes, I've heard of this," smiled Sasori, closely studying each of the wooden creations Chiyo was controlling. "The strength of a puppet master is measured by the amount of puppets that they can control at the same time, after all. I heard you can successfully storm a castle using this technique alone… but with my technique, I can destroy an entire country…" Sasori reached behind his neck and pulled out a scroll of his own, which he quickly unfurled. A section of the right side of the puppet master's chest opened up and chakra strings burst out from it, connecting to so many puppets that they blotted out the clear sky shining through the now non-existent roof.

"It's almost embarrassing," Sasori continued, enjoying the expressions of shock and fear on the faces of both the Hyuuga girl and his grandmother. "Needing to use my most powerful technique of all, **Akahigi: Hyakki no Souen,** against an old woman and a little girl will make me a laughing stock. Luckily for me…" Sasori paused and flicked his fingers as, one by one, all of his puppets revealed a weapon of some sort, ranging from slashing claws to heavy axes, "Neither of you will be alive to tell anyone about it."

With no further words, Sasori's red cloaked puppets flickered forwards in a blur of movement. There was no time to think of a plan – Chiyo's puppets and Hinata were isolated from each other, forced to fight their own individual battles.

Chiyo quickly twitched the index fingers of both hands, and two of her puppets withdrew a large, spiked ball-and-chain mace which they whipped around through the air. With so many puppets in the cave there was no room to dodge and several of Sasori's figurines were smashed to pieces, unable to block against the brute force of the attack. Another of Chiyo's puppets, holding twin scimitar blades, was slicing through Sasori's manikins with lightning speed and another three, stacked together in a pyramid formation, blew a group of red cloaked wooden creations away with a vacuum attack. But Chiyo could see it was hopeless. The sheer numbers were making things impossible for her – whenever one of Sasori's puppets was destroyed he simply severed his chakra string and focused on his other marionettes instead.

Blocked off from Chiyo, all Hinata could see was wave after wave of endless wooden figures. Lashing out with desperate Jyuuken strikes, she destroyed puppet after puppet, but the wooden creations were constant, never once letting up as she destroyed them. Hinata was forced to keep backing away just to get enough time and room to move her arms about freely and still the puppets kept coming.

One puppet down, dispatched with an elbow strike to its head. Two down, destroyed by a roundhouse kick through its chest. Three, left broken as Hinata flared chakra into her hand and jabbed at its shoulder joints. And still they kept coming, a never ending swarm of them.

Frantically Hinata dispatched another puppet with a knee through its face. She followed up with a barrage of panicked Jyuuken strikes. _'Five, six, seven, eight, ni–'_

As she took another step back, Hinata's eyes widened in fear as her foot slipped on some loose rubble and she fell to the ground. Instantly a puppet appeared above her, its lifeless face and painted smile perfectly poised as it raised a short sword to finish her. There was no time to scream. No time for regrets. All she could do was lie sprawled out over the floor in anticipation for the killing blow.

Hinata shut her eyes tightly and waited for the end. And waited. And waited.

And then she felt a drop of something wet hit her face.

Opening her eyes, she saw Chiyo bending over her, acting as a human shield with her arms stretched wide and her back to the puppet's attack. There was a kind, serene smile on her face… and a brutal short sword sticking through her chest, dripping with blood.

Chiyo drew a painful, rattling breath. "Hinata-san, are you… alright?" she gurgled, blood frothing between her lips.

"Chiyo-b-b-baasama…" Hinata whispered, tears sliding down her face uncontrollably.

Chiyo turned her cloudy eyes away from Hinata and onto her grandson, who had an unreadable expression on his face at her sacrifice. Chiyo drew another agonised breath, which sounded to Hinata like a death rattle, and slowly but clearly spoke to the Akatsuki member.

"Sasori… you are… very precious to me. You are… what I fight for. And I… love you."

Then she slumped to the floor, oblivious to Hinata's screams.

**Author's Notes: **Woo! Massive chapter! Big fight scene! This chapter was a strange one to write out, mainly because I couldn't make up my mind what I wanted to happen in it at first. Initially I had Shikamaru involved in the fight against Sasori, but I decided against it in the end because it was taking the focus away from Hinata and Chiyo, which was something I really wanted to bring to the forefront. Then I decided to have Chiyo do her self sacrifice technique to bring Hinata back to life… but I thought that would have been really cliché and contrived for such a serious fight. Eventually, after talking with my 'semi-beta' brother, I decided to scrap those ideas and came up with this. It's the longest individual, drawn out fight scene so far, but I'm pretty pleased with the end result. Making Hinata seem strong and badass (but not overpowered), meek (but not completely shy and stuttering) and determined (but not overly aggressive) was a tough balance to strike, but I feel happy with what I've got here. I got a review from someone called Piplup99 in the last chapter that I wanted to quickly address here too – the claim was that, so far in this story, 'Naruto is sort of out of character.' I was kinda hoping I was doing an ok job at this, to be honest – it's something I'll admit that I've found difficult, but I've really attempted to keep his personality as constant as possible. I've still tried to keep him goofy, show his insecurities about the Kyuubi, his self-imposed obligations to others and all that sorta thing. He's more accepting and helpful towards Hinata than he is in canon, admittedly, but the reason for this is his meeting with her at the gates of Konoha. Her kindness and friendship made him open his eyes to her a little, seeing her as a 'close friend' rather than just a 'friend,' and occasionally Naruto can actually be quite perceptive… though he is still completely clueless with romance! Ah well, maybe I'm overestimating my writing abilities – like I said, I've found this quite tough. If anyone else thinks I'm not doing a good enough job of portraying Naruto, or any of the other characters, feel free to say so. Ok, that's all for now, so until the next chapter, bye!

**List of Jutsu:**

'**Nendo Bunshin no Jutsu' = 'Clay Clone Technique' **

'**Hakkeshou Kaiten' = 'Eight Divination Palms of the Hand Heavenly Spin' **

'**Hakke R****okujuuyonshou' = 'Eight Divination Signs, Sixty-Four Palms of the Hand' **

'**Juuho Soushiken' = 'Gentle Step Twin Lion Fist' **

'**Satetsu Shigure' = 'Iron Sand Autumnal Showers' **

'**Shugo Hakke Rokujuuyonshou' = 'Eight Guardian Divination Signs: Sixty-four Palms of the Hand' **

'**Satetsu Kaihou' = 'Iron Sand World Method' **

'**Shirahigi: Jikki Chikamatsu no Shuu' = 'White Secret Technique: Ten Puppet Collection of Chikamatsu' **

'**Akahigi: Hyakki no Souen' = 'Red Secret Technique: Performance of the Hundred Puppets'**

**Joke Corner:** **China is so polluted that in the 2008 Olympic Games the javelin got stuck in the sky.**


	11. Family Reunion

Chapter Eleven: Family Reunion

Tenten twirled a bo staff in her hands with practiced ease, launching it in a series of powerful swipes and jabs at her copy. Her opponent, using an exact replica of her weapon, blocked, parried and shimmied around the blows with unerring grace and precision. As the real Tenten tried to sweep at her doppelganger's feet, the fake summoned a heavy club from a scroll on its back and hammered it into the bo staff, smashing the wooden weapon into splinters. Tenten jumped backwards into the air, scowling, and unfurled a scroll of her own in each hand. She angrily yelled, **"Kuchiyose: Tobidougu!"** and the scrolls unleashed a hail of shuriken and kunai towards her duplicate. But the Akatsuki copy mimicked her summoning technique and the opposing weapons clashed in mid-air, diverting each other off course in random directions. Tenten let out a cry of pain as one of the deflected shuriken was knocked back in her direction and left a deep cut on her shoulder.

"Tenten, are you alright?" Neji's voice asked through the radio, his tone urgent even though it was muffled by the reception. "I heard a scream."

"I'm fine," Tenten gasped, reaching into the small medi-kit that she carried with her and wrapping a bandage around her shoulder to halt the flow of blood. She grimaced in pain but made no noise. She didn't want Neji to think that she couldn't handle things on her own, though a small part of her was pleasantly surprised at his worry for her well being. Watching her opponent, who had stopped attacking as soon as she had, like a mirror image, she spoke into the radio again. "How is everyone doing in their fights?"

Breathing heavily, Gai answered first. "Fighting against me – I mean him – I mean myself – I mean…" Tenten shook her head in exasperation and Neji let out a sigh that sounded more like a snort as Gai tried to get his words in order. "Fighting… my copy… is a true challenge. My opponent is highly skilled, but more than that, it is as though he knows everything about me."

"It feels… exactly the same… for me, Gai-sensei," announced Lee, his own reply broken up by dull thumping sounds and the occasional grunt. Tenten could only assume that Lee was still fighting hand to hand with his copy. She wondered if he'd even stopped at all to get his bearings or come up with a strategy.

"They also know the same techniques that we do, and have the same chakra," added Neji. "We are essentially fighting mirror images of ourselves in every detail."

Gai frowned, eying his opponent warily as he and his duplicate latched themselves to the side of the rock wall they were fighting on using chakra. "A long, drawn out battle seems to be the only possible route to victory and even then we would still have failed. The Akatsuki are preventing us from returning to the cave, and despite our youthful efforts we are unable to emerge victorious!"

There was a pause of a few seconds as everyone absorbed Gai's words. Then Neji spoke, his voice completely flat.

"We're all idiots."

"Huh? What do you mean, Neji?" asked Tenten, slightly hurt by his words, as Lee shouted incoherently about how 'hip' and 'cool' Neji was being with his 'unyouthful' accusations. Surely she wasn't as bad as Lee and her sensei, was she?

"I mean that we're going about this all wrong," Neji clarified. "Why are we attempting to wear down an opponent that knows all of our techniques and preferred fighting style when we can use our knowledge of our own weaknesses?"

Gai scrunched his eyebrows together. "I am afraid I do not follow, Neji. What is it that you are suggesting?"

Even with his Byakugan active Neji couldn't help but roll his eyes at his sensei's blindness. "Instead of fighting duplicates of ourselves, we should simply switch targets and face a different copy instead. We are in a much better position to exploit the weaknesses of our teammates than ourselves."

After thinking through Neji's idea for a second, a huge grin spread across Tenten's face. "Neji, has anyone ever told you that you're a genius?"

Neji smirked slightly. "Several people, actually."

-o-o-

"No!" Hinata cried, tears falling freely as Chiyo fell to the floor in a rapidly expanding pool of her own blood, chakra strings to her puppets severed. The wooden creations clattered to the ground with a series of hollow thuds, their master left almost as lifeless as them.

"Chiyo-baasama! Chiyo-baasama!" Hinata's screams petered out as she rushed to the elderly Suna kunoichi's side, dropping to her knees and clenching her fists tightly. "I w-was too weak to s-s-save her…" the Hyuuga girl sobbed, as Chiyo's blood stained the floor red. "Because of m-me, Chiyo-baasama is d-dying. It's all m-my fault!"

Sasori stared at his dying grandmother and the distraught girl, an unreadable expression on his face. "Oh," he said tonelessly. "I didn't mean to stab her." He couldn't describe exactly what he felt at seeing Chiyo slumped on the floor and bleeding to death… was it regret? Sorrow? Sasori didn't know. It had been so long since he had felt anything even remotely like this, not since he left Suna behind all those years ago and became as missing nin… but seeing his last remaining family member sprawled over the ground with a fatal wound… it felt wrong somehow.

Using her Byakugan, Hinata could see that Chiyo's breath was becoming more and more faint and her heart was beating erratically. Hinata may not have been a medic nin, but she could tell that the situation was hopeless. The old woman was flickering in and out of consciousness, eyes fluttering open and shut, and although it looked as though the blade had avoided any vital organs as it tore through her chest the blood loss was severe. Every drop of crimson that fell from the hole in Chiyo's chest brought her closer to death and Hinata knew there wasn't a thing she could do about it. If Sakura had been here then there may have been a tiny chance that she could have healed her, but as it was Chiyo would be dead in minutes.

Taking as calm a breath as she could manage, Hinata straightened herself up to face Sasori… alone this time. _'I'm so sorry, Chiyo-baasma,' _she thought as she clenched her eyelids shut to prevent any more tears from falling. _'It was because of my stupid mistake, my weakness, that you had to protect me… But I promise I won't let your sacrifice be in vain. I can't! I have to keep fighting! I know I don't have a hope of winning against someone as strong as him all on my own, but I can't just give up. For Sakura-san, and Naruto-kun, and for Chiyo-baasama… I can't lose!' _

Sasori tore his gaze away from Chiyo's spread-eagled body and gazed squarely at Hinata. "You are still intent on facing me?" he asked, a hint of confusion in his normally impassive voice. "Why? Why do you not just accept defeat against a superior opponent? Why do you keep fighting?"

"B-Because…" Hinata's eyes flickered from Chiyo's blood stained form to Sasori's face and she locked gazes with him with as much determination as she could muster. "Because until I find out about Orochimaru from you, I can't give up and I won't let Chiyo-baasama die in vain. I can't let down the p-people that are relying on me. And I have to prove myself to the person m-most precious to me. Because his nindo… is the same nindo that I follow. And it's the same nindo that Chiyo-baasama followed too."

Sasori's eyebrows furrowed a fraction. "I'm not sure that I fully understand, but I must admit that I admire your resolve." Sasori flicked his fingers and his puppets, that had previously been floating immobile after he had stabbed Chiyo, moved into an attacking formation. "It truly is a shame that I now have to kill you."

Hinata scanned the hoard of puppets and felt her heart sink. Even after all of the efforts of both herself and Chiyo, there had to be at least sixty wooden figures left, and with fewer puppets to control than before Sasori would be able to manipulate them much easier. Things were looking very bad indeed.

Sasori tweaked his fingers and the puppets rained down from the sky.

-o-o-

Tenten grinned from her concealed position in the treetops as she looked down at the copy of Lee that she was now focusing on. After quickly discussing how their plan would work over the radio, they agreed that Tenten fighting Lee's clone, Lee fighting the fake Neji and the Hyuuga jonin facing off against the copy of Tenten would give the best chances of success and after all of the copies were defeated they would all gang up on Gai's clone, since it was likely to be the most powerful. To escape from their copies Tenten had dropped a cluster of smoke bombs to disguise her exit, Lee had released his leg weights and disappeared in the blink of an eye and Neji had left his own doppelganger behind with the use of explosive tags, forcing his opponent to use the **Hakkeshou Kaiten** technique to block the force of the blast and enabling the Hyuuga prodigy to slip away as his copy was preoccupied. Tenten was a little worried about the well-being of her two teammates against such powerful opponents, but tried to suppress her minor anxiety. Neji and Lee were strong, after all, and wouldn't want her treating them like they couldn't look after themselves.

The weapons expert slowly pulled out a handful of shuriken, keeping her eyes fixed on the back of Lee's clone, which was looking around dazedly, wondering where his opponent had gone, but unsure of which direction to follow. _'Looks like these copies are confused when they're not fighting the person that they're modelled on,'_ she thought to herself grimly, taking slow, deep breaths and mentally preparing herself. Lee was faster and more physically powerful than her by a long shot, but she excelled at keeping herself hidden in the shadows and was deadly accurate with her weapons. She wouldn't miss.

Tenten had to admit that she was a little apprehensive of killing something that looked exactly like her teammate, but the thought of it holding up the mission and hurting her friends was enough to spur her into action and she was confident in her assassination techniques, though she certainly didn't enjoy the idea of silent killing. But this wasn't Lee, she reminded herself; it was some cheap Akatsuki trick, just smoke and mirrors. And she would be quite happy to throw a wrench into whatever the criminal organisation were planning.

Taking careful aim, she hurled the shuriken from her hidden position in the branches of the trees. They landed all over the fake Lee's body before it even noticed her presence with a series of dull thumping sounds.

"Gotcha," Tenten whispered triumphantly, as the clone fell to the floor, perforated with the sharp throwing stars. However, as it hit the ground its body seemed to slump, losing its substance and becoming a slimy, oozing mess of green and brown which slowly spread across the loamy forest floor. Tenten felt a tiny hint of pride in her abilities, but couldn't help but grimace with disgust at both the mess and the stench of compost that was coming from the fake body. _'I feel sorry for whoever has to clean that up.'_

-o-o-

Lee hadn't stopped smiling for the entirity of his fight against his own clone, despite the annoyance of not landing a single successful hit, and his smile didn't diminish at all as he engaged in combat with a new opponent. The chance to fight Neji, even if it was just a copy of him, was something he couldn't resist. Although the Hyuuga boy had warmed up slightly in the last few years and had grown to respect Lee's taijutsu abilities, he rarely if ever offered to spar. Lee frowned as he ducked past a Jyuuken strike from the copy of his teammate. _'I will prove to Neji that the fires of my youth shall not be dimmed by his attitude towards me. I will prove to him that I can be a truly great ninja, like Gai-sensei, using only taijutsu. For he is my rival!'_

The copy of Neji settled into the stance Lee knew so well from the many missions he and the Hyuuga branch family member had been on. The spandex clad ninja knew what was coming next. He remembered it vividly from the very first time he and Neji had sparred. The Byakugan user had merely smirked at Lee's loud challenge and with a cry of, **"Hakke R****okujuuyonshou!" **he had locked all of Lee's tenketsu in one devastating attack, striking with chakra infused fingers faster than the eye could follow. It was after that fight, when he had been defeated with such ease by a far superior opponent, that Lee had come closest to giving up his goal of becoming a worthy shinobi without ninjutsu or genjutsu capabilities. Everyone thought he should just quit. Neji had coldly proclaimed that he was weak and unable to fight against his destiny. He couldn't mould chakra well enough to use ninjutsu or genjutsu. His taijutsu, his only weapon, was only just passable. How could he continue as a ninja when the odds were stacked so heavily against him?

But just when he was feeling at his lowest, Gai-sensei had taken him aside and told him something that had stuck with Lee forever. Although Neji was without doubt a truly gifted shinobi, there was more than one kind of genius in the ninja world. Lee may not have been naturally talented, Gai admitted, but with a little hard work there was no reason that Lee couldn't become a shinobi he would be proud of.

_Proud._ A shinobi to be _proud_ of. To Lee, that was all the motivation he needed.

As Lee ducked around a palm strike aimed at his ribs, he pulled at the bandages surrounding his arms to loosen them. There would be no holding back against an opponent as dangerous as a Hyuuga clan member – he was ready to use his finishing attack.

As the clone of Neji aimed for one of the tenketsu in Lee's left arm, the spandex clad shinobi saw the opening he needed. With a shout of aggression, Lee opened the Initial Gate and immediately felt the released power flowing through his muscles as his skin turned a raw, red colour. In a blur of green that even the fake Neji's Byakugan could not pick out, he got inside the copy's guard and sent it skywards with an upward kick to the jaw. With blinding speed Lee followed him up into the air and wrapped the loosened bandages around his opponent, locking the two of them together and preventing the clone from escaping. As the copy struggled to break free from Lee's grip, the taijutsu specialist began to spin, slowly at first but quickly gaining momentum, as he angled the phoney Neji's head towards the ground.

The two of them, locked together, fell faster and faster towards the grassy floor. At the very last second, just before impact, Lee disengaged, jumping clear and landing in a crouch with a shout of, **"Omote Renge!"**

The fake Neji wasn't quite so fortunate. Its skull hammered into the ground with a brutal crunch, leaving a sizable crater from the force of the collision, and its head was snapped back, its neck completely crushed. After a few seconds the body began to slowly lose its shape, turning a slimy green colour that smelt heavily of rotting vegetation.

Lee ended the enhanced chakra flow granted by the Initial Gate and felt the strain on his muscles straight away, but did his best to ignore the soreness. Now that he looked down at the rancid mess in the crater that he had created, he felt slightly stunned by what he had done. _'I did it!'_ he realised, his face splitting into a huge grin. _'I defeated Hyuuga Neji! It may only have been a copy, but it was just as powerful as him… and I still won! Gai-sensei, I have defeated my great rival and it is all because of your youthful encouragement and enthusiasm! I truly am at one with the Springtime of Youth!'_

-o-o-

Though his face was impassive as he blocked a flurry of shuriken with a kunai held in his right hand, Neji was having a serious internal struggle as he faced the copy of Tenten. Of course he had trained against her many times since they had been assigned to the same team – when it was a choice between sparring with her or the spandex clad duo of Gai and Lee, Neji didn't even need to consider his answer.

But practicing with her in training was one thing. Facing something that looked like her in every detail in a fight to the death was something else entirely. Remembering how she acted around him, treating him as his own person rather than as the genius of the Hyuuga clan, was something he wasn't sure he could just put to one side.

Even back when he had first became a member of Team Gai, when he had been quiet, emotionless and bitter, Tenten had still attempted to penetrate through his icy façade. And to Neji's total surprise, she had actually succeeded. As much as he had tried to withdraw himself, Tenten's cheerful optimism and kindness had actually made an impression on him, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. Not only did he respect her as a formidable kunoichi, he also found that he respected her as a friend.

After the fight against Naruto in the Chuunin Exams, Neji had resolved himself to be more open around the auburn haired girl. He sometimes smiled around her and in a few rare moments even laughed. And the more time he spent with her, the more happy and at ease he felt. He found himself actually looking forward to seeing her and even made an effort to meet up with her on the occasions in which he didn't have a mission. And as he slowly continued to open up as he spent more time with her, she barely seemed to change at all. She still got irritated by the exuberance of Gai and Lee. She still had the same determination to be the best kunoichi she could be. She still got exasperated at him when she felt that he was being too 'boring' or 'proper.' And most importantly of all, she still smiled at him in that way that made him want to smile too. The fight with Naruto had changed him, but without a doubt Tenten had helped change him too.

Neji cursed under his breath as the clone of his teammate summoned a hoard of kunai, all with explosive notes attached, and sent them flying towards him. Spinning on his feet he shouted, **"Kaiten!"** and the weapons were deflected away by a whirl of chakra.

The Hyuuga jonin ceased his rotation as the Akatsuki creation pulled out another scroll and summoned a pair of hooked swords and leapt towards him. Neji realised that this was his best opportunity – his techniques worked best at close range, something that this copy was clearly unaware of if it was challenging him head on. Tenten was by no means weak in melee combat, but he knew that with his Jyuuken he would have the advantage. But could he really bring himself to kill what looked like the person he was closest to in the whole world?

The radio around his collar buzzed into life. "Neji, what's taking you so long?" Tenten's voice asked, sounding irritated but concerned. "Both Lee and I are already done with our fights. You aren't in trouble, are you? Surely you aren't finding it tough to beat little old _me?_"

Neji knocked the clone back with a chakra enforced block and smiled at the sound of Tenten's teasing but caring voice. She was right, he shouldn't be dawdling. There was the mission to think of after all, not to mention the safety of his younger cousin. "No Tenten, it's fine," he said, speaking quietly into the radio's microphone. "In fact, I should be done here very soon."

"Ok, that's good," Tenten answered. "Lee and I are gonna join up with Gai-sensei and help him against his duplicate. If you don't hurry up we'll be done before you get there, so get a move on!"

"I'll be as fast as I can, but don't wait for me. I'll meet up with you in a few minutes." Neji ended the conversation and slowly exhaled. After hearing his teammate's voice he felt like a great weight had been taken off his mind. She always seemed to know what to say to get him to focus and perform to the best of his abilities.

Relaxing his tense muscles, the Hyuuga jonin turned his attention back to Tenten's copy. Rather than his previous uncertainty, now all he could feel was determination and a faint flickering of anger. Even without his Byakugan, when he looked closely he could see that this clone wasn't quite perfect in its imitation of Tenten. Its eyes were dull and glazed, nothing like the bright, deep, creamy brown that he knew, and the way that the copy acted seemed a tiny bit off. The little details that could only be picked up by close observation, such as how Tenten wrinkled her nose when annoyed and smoothed her hair when nervous, just weren't there.

Neji smirked. That made it a lot easier for him to bring himself to do this. Visualising the eight palms trigram across the ground, he drew chakra to his fingertips and rushed forwards. Tenten's clone slashed at him with one of her swords but he ducked inside her guard and with a yell of, **"****Hakke Hyakunijuuhachishou****!"** he jabbed at her wrist, shouting, "Two Palms!"

The fake Tenten dropped one of the hooked blades as Neji closed the tenketsu in her hand and followed up with a cry of, "Four Palms!" He struck with deadly accuracy at the chakra points in her opposite shoulder, locking the entire arm's muscles up, and in a pattern that would look completely random to anyone without the Byakugan he began striking at other parts of her body.

"Eight Palms! Sixteen Palms! Thirty-Two Palms! Sixty-Four Palms! One-Hundred-and-Twenty-Eight Palms!"

His final blow, a chakra infused palm strike to the forehead, sent the clone to the floor, its body faintly smoking from the speed and intensity of Neji's attack. The Hyuuga boy lowered his raised hands and looked down at the corpse, which was slowly turning a gloopy green colour with a vile stench. Neji stared at the rapidly decomposing body for a few seconds, a sad smile on his face, before shutting his eyes for a moment to regain his composure, turning away and hurrying to catch up with his teammates.

-o-o-

As the four of them continued to pursue Deidara, with Kakashi continuing to ready himself for his attack, Naruto felt himself becoming more and more impatient. His frustration at being unable to catch up with that damned clay bird was growing, fuelled by his helplessness at not being able to do anything that would help them catch up to the blonde haired ninja onboard. What made it even worse was the memory of seeing Gaara held aloft between those two stone hands, unconscious and helpless – it was enough to make his blood boil. _'The Akatsuki are gonna pay for attacking Gaara,'_ thought the spiky haired ninja, leaping through the air as fast as he could from tree root to tree root. _'I'll make sure of it!'_

He couldn't help but worry about how Hinata and Chiyo were doing as well, which wasn't helping him keep his composure. If Kakashi-sensei was happy to add the elderly Suna kunoichi to the team then he was willing to trust his teacher's judgement, and he could tell that Hinata had definitely improved in the time that he'd been away from the bell test they had taken on the way from Suna, but even so… Naruto shook his head vigorously, trying not to think about what might happen. _'Hinata-chan and the old lady are really strong – I'm sure they'll be alright,'_ he tried to convince himself. _'But this is the guy that beat Kankuro so easily… and Gai's team won't be there to back them up for a while from the sounds of things… I hope they're ok... If Hinata-chan got hurt when I wasn't there to fight with her…'_

Naruto suddenly realised that he was clenching his fists so hard that his fingernails were digging into the palm of his hand and forced himself to take a deep breath in an effort to calm himself down. Trying to suppress the anger bubbling away inside of him, he looked around, wanting to find something other than his frustration to focus on.

In the sky, soaring tantalisingly close but just out of reach, was the white bird, with a flash of red hair visible in its beak. Naruto growled. No, that wasn't helping. He turned his head to the right instead, where Temari was flanking him. She seemed to be even more anxious and frustrated than he was, if that was possible. Her eyes were burning with righteous fury and she was glaring daggers at the Akatsuki member. She had already asked Kakashi more than once if his special technique was fully charged yet, her voice fraught with worry for her younger brother and hatred for his kidnappers, but each time Kakashi's only reply had been, "Just a little longer." Judging by the way that the Suna kunoichi's fingers had twitched around her fan, she wasn't exactly thrilled by the masked copy nin's noncommittal answer.

"We're in a troublesome situation here…" murmured Shikamaru to Naruto's left, interrupting the orange clad ninja's observations. "This clay using guy has drawn us a long way away from the others, leaving all of us a lot more exposed than if we'd stayed together as one whole group. We should have been more prepared."

"Well, what could we have done to avoid it?" scowled Naruto. "It's not like we knew that they were gonna try and split us up and even if we did we couldn't just let either of the Akatsuki bastards escape!"

"True," admitted Shikamaru, "But we should've predicted their plan to divide us all up and devised a counter-strategy of out own. Or at very least I should've."

Naruto's scowl deepened. "We were in a bit of a rush in case you hadn't realised, Shikamaru," he growled, annoyed by the lazy chuunin's tone of voice. "It's not like we could have asked the Akatsuki for a time out. And what do you mean by _you _should have? Are you saying you're the only one smart enough to come up with a plan?"

"Relax, Naruto," said Shikamaru, raising his hands defensively. "I'm just saying we should have been thinking ahead more, and that's one of my strengths, that's all. And I know for a fact that you're really tough and you use your instincts really well, so don't take this the wrong way, but… you're a dumbass." Seeing Naruto turn red and about to yell at him, Shikamaru quickly clarified. "What I mean is that you don't think out what you're gonna do before you fight. That can be your biggest weakness. A little planning can go a long way, especially against opponents as skilled as the Akatsuki."

Naruto considered the Nara boy's words and his shoulders slumped. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Even I can't argue with good advice when I hear it. But when did you become type to plan ahead and dish out lectures? The old you would have found that way too 'troublesome' to deal with!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "You weren't the only one to grow up a bit over the last couple of years, Naruto," he said sarcastically. "I'd definitely much rather slack off, like I did in the old days, but I s'pose that I have a duty to everyone that I can't just shy away from, no matter how much easier it would be. My promotion to chuunin showed me that I can't just do things half-assed anymore."

Naruto grinned at his friend's attitude towards his new responsibilities. "Y'know, you sound like you wish that you hadn't been promoted. Aren't you glad that now you can lead missions you can use your big brain to protect everyone?"

Shikamaru snorted. "Glad? Being intelligent is a curse, not a blessing! The more potential I show, the more the higher ups notice me and the more they expect from me – it's much less troublesome to be average." Seeing Naruto's confused expression, the shadow using chuunin sighed. "I don't expect you to understand, Naruto, what with your fixation on being Hokage and all. But I'd rather just be a plain old regular shinobi than 'Master Field Tactician' or any fancy title like that. I guess I'd do it for the sake of the village, but I sure as Hell wouldn't enjoy it." Craning his neck he looked past Naruto and saw that Temari was listening to them speak, a surprised expression written across her face. "Hey, Temari, you ok?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," the Suna kunoichi mumbled, face slightly red at being caught listening in on the boys. She had been absorbed in the conversation, so much so that she had stopped asking Kakashi when he would be ready, and the knot of panic and fear she was feeling at Gaara's situation had loosened a fraction. To her, it was worth being caught eavesdropping – she had gained a rare insight into Shikamaru's psyche and was struck by the sincerity and frank honesty in his voice. It was clear that despite his lax outlook on life in general, when push came to shove he truly was committed to serving his village and protecting his friends. _'He may not show it very often, but he really is dedicated if he's willing to put aside his own wants for what's best for Konoha,' _she thought to herself, smiling slightly. _'Shikamaru is really something else… and people should start taking him more seriously, including me.'_

Temari was interrupted from her thoughts by a subtle cough ahead of her. From his position at the head of the group, Kakashi turned his head to look back at the younger ninja following him. "Ok, I'm all set," he announced cheerfully, his normal eye crinkling shut as he smiled. "My eye's new Sharingan is ready for action."

"Wait, _new_ Sharingan? When did you get that?" Naruto asked, puzzled.

"What can I say?" Kakashi shrugged nonchalantly. "I guess you aren't the only person that did a little training in the past two-and-a-half years."

"It doesn't matter how you got it," Temari interrupted impatiently. "Just make sure hit the Akatsuki bastard and don't hurt Gaara!"

"Yeah, knock this asshole out of the sky, Kakashi-sensei!" agreed Naruto. "And if you miss, don't worry – we'll finish him off!"

Kakashi nodded and turned his gaze back on the white bird, soaring far above his head. His left eye was gleaming red and a strange, black spiralling pattern appeared around the iris, the air around it shimmering like a heat haze. Focusing on his target, the black spiral in his eye began to rotate faster and faster, until the masked copy nin barked, "Mangekyo Sharingan!"

-o-o-

As the puppets launched themselves towards her from every direction, Hinata did her best to convince herself it wasn't over yet. As long as she was still able to fight she had to believe there was still a small sliver of hope. She raised her palms into a Jyuuken stance, planning to use one last** Hakkeshou Kaiten **as the puppets streaked towards her, even though she was almost out of chakra. Out of chakra and out of luck. Chiyo-baasama wasn't here to save her this time.

Twenty metres away… fifteen metres… ten metres. Silently, she prayed that it wouldn't be too painful.

A sad smile crossed Sasori's face as he watched the puppets closing in on the Hyuuga girl. "I hate long waits, so I will make this quick for you. I hope that when you die you will see my grandmother in the afterlife. And also…" Sasori hesitated for a moment, his unmarked face lined with just the vaguest hint of uncertainty, before he continued, "I would like her to know that I didn't mean to stab her."

Desperate, Hinata pushed chakra out of her tenketsu and began to spin, keeping her Byakugan active and focused on Sasori's wooden creations and trying to ignore the fear that was threatening to consume her. Her shout of, **"Kaiten!"** was almost drowned out by the sound of the puppets colliding forcefully with the chakra sphere she had created. But to her horror the sheer mass of puppets pushing against the whirling dome was enough to drive her backwards, even as she destroyed the first hoard of marionettes that came into contact. Almost as soon as the first wave was shattered a second barrage of wooden creations smashed against the spinning blue vortex, almost causing her to lose her balance. Hinata gritted her teeth as she tried to gather more chakra, but the force of the puppets was too great to withstand with just the meagre reserves she had remaining. She didn't have anything else to give.

The **Hakkeshou Kaiten** lost its spherical shape as Hinata's chakra flow from her tenketsu became irregular and one of the puppets broke through, barrelling into the Hyuuga heiress. Hinata was knocked her off her feet and sent sprawling painfully across the cave floor, all the air forced out of her lungs. She released her Byakugan inadvertently, unable to maintain it without the necessary chakra, and the veins around her eyes rescinded. She sucked in a sharp breath, wincing as she did so, and could taste blood in her mouth – she must have bitten her tongue as she was propelled backwards. Her muscles screamed with effort as she tried unsuccessfully to stand back on her feet. She managed to get to her knees, the exertion making her tremble, but anything beyond that was impossible. Her body felt totally limp, a combination of chakra depletion, fear and tiredness leaving her with the sensation of feeling more drained than she could ever remember being.

As the puppets regrouped and surrounded the tired indigo haired girl, Hinata felt her heart sink as the full hopelessness of the circumstances hit her. She couldn't see any way out of this situation. In a few moments, she would be joining Chiyo, cold and dead on the hard, unforgiving ground.

Hinata took a deep breath and tried to resolve herself to face her end like a true Konoha kunoichi, without screaming, without showing how alone and scared she felt. Sadly, she thought back to her most cherished memories and wished that she could have added to them. The times her mother had read her a bedtime story and kissed her goodnight, back when she had still been alive. The times she had shyly played with Neji when she had been a little girl, laughing and chasing after him in her oversized kimono. The times she had trained with Kiba, Shino and Kurenai-sensei, tired and dirty, but happy that she was getting stronger, even if it was just a little bit, to protect the people she cared about.

And memories of Naruto as well, far too many to count. Watching him slacking off at the Academy and secretly laughing at his loud jokes. Seeing him train himself to his very limits, all alone, as she silently cheered him on. Passing the Genin Exam and forlornly thinking that he had failed and wouldn't qualify to be a ninja with her, despite all his hard work and practice, only to discover the following day that he had graduated after all, much to her relief and quiet delight. Offering her answers to him in the written section of the Chuunin Exam, taking her first step to try and help him. Giving him the medicinal cream after his fight with Kiba and seeing his sunny smile directed at her. Talking to him before his fight with Neji, calling him a 'proud failure' and managing to cheer him up and perhaps inspire him in just a fraction of the way that he had inspired her. And so many others, all blurred into one, with the blonde haired boy's resolute determination and bright blue eyes constant in all of them.

It was no good – Hinata couldn't help the tears, of sadness, nostalgia, happiness, love, fear and a whole host of other emotions, from pouring down her face. As the puppets approached, closing ranks like a well drilled army, Hinata sniffled, teary eyed and whispered, "Goodbye, Naruto-kun…"

And then Hinata heard a hissing sound, before a cold, dry voice that resonated with barely suppressed anger growled, **"Sabaku Kyuu!"**

Hinata jerked her head up in shock at hearing the voice and Sasori whipped his head around, stunned to see that there was a layer of sand rapidly climbing up his legs and over his stomach, encasing him right the way up to his neck before he even had a chance to move. Turning his head around in surprise, Sasori saw a heavily sweating, deeply breathing and stony faced Kazekage glaring at him, on all fours in a crawling position with one arm raised and a trail of sand flowing from the gourd on his back.

"I will _not_ let you harm my village or its allies," Gaara said in a low, menacing voice, beads of perspiration dripping off his face. With his hair a matted mess and his eyes gaunt and bloodshot he looked genuinely frightening. "And as long as I have breath in my body, I will _not_ let Suna's enemies threaten my home. For that is my duty as Kazekage." Gaara made a clenching movement with his raised fist and the sand surrounding Sasori crushed inwards as the red haired sand user shouted, **"Sabaku Sousou!"**

There was a horrible crunching noise as the sand constricted around Sasori's wooden body, shattering it into broken pieces. The missing Suna nin collapsed to the ground, eyes still wide with the same expression of quizzical surprise, and his puppets fell alongside him, chakra strings disconnected. Gaara grunted with exertion as his attack ended, falling to the ground himself as his arms gave way beneath him. His breath was coming in short, panting wheezes and he had gone very pale, but there was a smile of tired satisfaction on his lips nonetheless.

And that was it. In just a few seconds Hinata had gone from staring death in the face to seeing her enemy's shattered body lying across the floor. _'I'm alive,'_ she thought dumbly, listening to the trickling of Gaara's sand and the Kazekage's rasping breaths. _'I'm still alive!'_ The amazement she felt at not being dead was only matched by the joy she felt at feeling her heart still pumping. She shakily placed a hand on her chest. _'I'm still alive!' _ The rhythm of her heartbeat, still fast and scared, was delicious to her. As Hinata revelled in the blissful feeling of just surviving, against all odds, she broke down and sobbed into her hands, with regret at being unable to save Chiyo, thankfulness for still existing and hope for the future that now extended limitlessly before her once again but had seemed impossible mere moments ago.

Eventually Hinata slowly rose to her feet, her eyes still watery but no longer overflowing. Her muscles were still sore and tired, but just letting her emotions out through her tears had been a massive relief. Stumbling slightly due to her fatiuge and the broken ground she walked over to Gaara.

"Kazekage-sama, are you alright?" she asked worriedly, as he tried to get his breath back.

Gaara nodded weakly. "The Akatsuki absorbed… much of my… chakra. Using my sand has… left me… very tired."

Hinata was about to ask him whether he was able to stand, but a faint murmur of, "Girl… come here…" made her eyes widen and a bolt of fear strike at her chest. Surely… surely Sasori couldn't be alive still, after what Gaara had done to him, could he?

Turning around slowly, fully expecting to see the puppet master ready to strike her down, she instead saw Sasori's head turned towards her, with his body still lying mangled on top of the ground. There was a dark, murky liquid surrounding him, leaking from the pulsating _thing_ in his chest. "You need not… fear, girl. I have no wish … to fight anymore, even if I… could. Your name was… Hinata, correct?"

Despite her fear of the Akatsuki puppet master, Hinata cautiously walked towards him. It was clear that he couldn't move towards her even if he wanted to, but something about his voice was different to before. It sounded weaker, and slightly faded, but also more… human. There was a tone of honest sadness and genuine emotion that had been absent previously and Hinata was sure it wasn't faked.

"Hinata…" he whispered, eyes focused on hers. "You wanted… to know about… Orochimaru…"

The Hyuuga heiress gasped, her breath catching in her chest. "You know s-something?" she asked desperately, squatting down beside him as his voice became fainter. "You know where Orochimaru is?"

Sasori smiled faintly. "Not quite. But I will tell you… if you do something… for me…"

"Something for y-you?" Hinata asked, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Before I die… please take… my body… and lay it beside… my grandmother… and my parents. Will you… do that?"

Hinata nodded, afraid that even speaking might cause him to change his mind. After seeing his incredibly powerful jutsus… surviving everything he had thrown at her… she felt unworthy at being given what she saw as a reward. In her eyes, she had failed. She may have still been alive, but it was Gaara that had finished the Akatsuki member off, and it was her fault that Chiyo-baasama was… Hinata shook her head slightly, tears threatening to fall again as she thought about the Suna kunoichi's sacrifice.

Sasori's smile became peaceful. "That is… good. You have… my gratitude. Now… as for Orochimaru… You should go to… the Tenshi Bridge in… the Hidden Grass Village… in eleven days time. I arranged to meet… with a spy… in Orochimaru's organisation."

"A spy?" Hinata repeated, a shiver of excitement running down her spine. "Who is it? What do they know? How l-long have they been working with Orochimaru?"

Sasori shook his head. "I have told you… what you wished… to know. Now please… take me to… my family."

Hinata wanted to keep interrogating the puppet user, but she swallowed her questions. Out of respect for his final wishes, even though they were the wishes of a traitor and a villain, Hinata chose to remain silent and lifted Sasori's crushed body into her arms. She was surprised at how light he was – even though he was made of wood he weighed only about as much as a small child and was easy to carry.

Picking her way carefully through the rubble and the broken marionettes, Hinata gently laid Sasori alongside Chiyo and the puppets of his parents. Sasori gazed at them, drinking in their features, eyes flicking from one family member to another in quick succession.

After taking in the faces of his parents and grandmother, Sasori sighed. "After I left Suna… my goal was to become… the perfect puppet. That is why… I modified… my body. But in the end… I am incomplete. I am… a man… that could not become… a puppet. My body may be… wooden… but on the inside… I am still… human." The puppet master paused for a moment, taking in the face of his grandmother with rapt attention. "I tried to convince myself that… I wanted my grandmother… dead… that she was just another body… to add… to my collection. But when I stabbed her… without meaning to… a part of me… wished I hadn't. In some way… beyond my understanding… she was still… precious to me."

Sasori slowly, painstakingly reached out with his broken, mangled arm and rested his hand on Chiyo's. His smile became serene. "It has been so long… since I felt love. But I think… I remember it now… grandmother."

Hinata gasped as she saw Chiyo's own hand twitch ever so slightly. The elderly Suna kunoichi, eyes cracked half open, turned her head slightly to face Sasori. Smiling tenderly, she breathed out from between her blood stained lips, "And I love you too… Sasori."

The effort it had taken Chiyo to speak must have been agonising, but she showed no hint of pain, merely continuing to smile at the puppet master. Then, finally, the last remaining spark of life inside her was extinguished, leaving her eyes lifeless and glassy. Just a moment later Sasori went limp too, grandmother and grandson dying in each other's arms.

And maybe it was just a trick of the light, but Hinata could have sworn, right before he died, that there was a tear dripping down Sasori's face.

-o-o-

Flying high above the ninja pursuing him, Deidara was starting to wonder if they were planning to turn back. None of them seemed to have an attack with which to hit him and he had started to consider dropping a couple of clay bombs, even though his supply was almost all used up, just to keep them all interested and remind them that he still had what they thought might be the Jinchuuriki brat in his possession.

Then he felt the air around him warp and an incredibly powerful pull just to the right of his body. _'What the Hell is this, yeah?' _the clay user thought frantically, as he tried to out run the spatial rift by commanding his bird to fly faster. It didn't make any difference though – the pressure on him was increasing and seemed to be drawing him in, like a whirpool. Looking down through the whirling air, the missing Iwa nin saw one of the ninja chasing him had a glowing red eye and quickly realised what was happening. _'This is a doujutsu, almost on Itachi's level! And it's affecting all the air around me too! Gotta try and escape before I get sucked in, yeah!'_

Deidara's clay mount banked sharply to the left, and the pull on his body lessened slightly, much to his relief. However, it now seemed to be focused completely on his one remaining arm, and he realised what was about to happen next. _'Oh shit!'_

With a ripping sound the Akatsuki member's arm was torn away from his body and vanished in the blink of an eye into the vortex, which flickered out of existence, leaving behind only a few specks of blood on Deidara's Akatsuki robes. The explosives expert grunted and nearly blacked out from the pain, but gritted his teeth and fought through it, trying to get out of range of any repeat of the technique. Then he noticed a flash of orange to his left.

Timing his leap to perfection, Naruto roared, **"Rasengan!" **and hammered the whirling sphere of chakra in his hand down at the clay bird. Deidara quickly jumped back to avoid the attack as his clay creation was decapitated and, still in mid air, Naruto shouted, **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"** A puff of smoke announced the creation of three clones, which helped him grab hold of the bird's head and landed safely on one of the branches of a tall, sturdy tree growing atop the valley wall. Immediately Naruto and his Kage Bunshin were joined by Temari, who desperately began clawing away at the white clay to reach her brother.

Deidara landed on a tree bough on the other side of the valley, and looked across warily, taking in his enemies. There was the blonde haired brat that had destroyed his bird, helping his clones and the girl scrabble away at the thin layer of clay. The kunoichi with the fan was crying out her brother's name as she scraped away at the clay with her bare hands. Still inside the valley was the one that had hit him with the doujutsu, Hatake Kakashi, who had dropped to his knees and was keeping one hand over his left eye as he grimaced in pain. He was breathing heavily and visibly shaking. Deidara relaxed slightly. The infamous copy nin, that Zetsu had warned about and even Itachi respected, was definitely the biggest threat – with him currently out of commission and the other two focused on cracking open his clay bird's head, now was his chance to escape.

Deidara grinned and was just about to jump off the branch when he felt his body freeze and a great pressure around his neck. With a great effort he twisted his head to look behind him and he noticed the boy in the chuunin vest that he'd almost forgotten about standing on the same tree bough, his hands clasped together and a long, thin shadow extending from his feet.

"**Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu,"** Shikamaru muttered and the compression around Deidara's neck increased, making it difficult for the Akatsuki ninja to breathe. As Deidara tried to break free from the jutsu he quickly realised that it wasn't going to work – the grip on him was too tight and his entire body felt completely paralyzed.

"There's no point struggling," said the Nara boy, taking a step closer to Deidara and unclasping his hands. "You're not going to break out of this any time soon, and with no arms you can't work any jutsu."

Shikamaru was surprised to see that despite the lack of air the Akatsuki ninja smirked. "I may not… be able to... break free," he grunted, trying to shift his neck away from the shadowy hand that was gripped tightly around it. "But who said… I haven't… already… performed… a jutsu?"

"What?" Shikamaru exclaimed. "You're bluffing, there's no way that you…" The gears in his head turning, Shikamaru quickly analysed the situation. _'This guy uses clay at long distances,' _he thought quickly, his gaze flickering from the smirking pony tailed man in front of him to the worn out Kakashi and across to Naruto and Temari, who had managed to scrape away the top of the bird's head and were pulling an unconscious Gaara through the hole they had made. _'With no arms and locked into my jutsu he can't make any more clay creations_. _So that means that he must have something already set up… but all that I can see is the bird head that Naruto caught and Gaara inside it…' _Suddenly the Nara boy's eyes widened and he released the Akatsuki member from his shadow bind, running to the edge of the tree branch and shouting across, "Temari, Naruto, get away from Gaara! It's a clay clone!"

Naruto and Temari, hearing Shikamaru's shout, jerked their heads up at the sound of his voice, then looked back down at Gaara… or rather, the clay clone of Gaara, which was starting to swell up rapidly.

"Too… late…" coughed Deidara, rubbing his neck against his shoulder as he was released from the jutsu but smiling truimphantly. **"Nendo Bunshin Daibakuha!"**

The copy of Gaaara continued to inflate like a balloon as it started to glow a bright white. Deidara laughed hysterically. "Now you're gonna witness the true beauty of my art with your own eyes, yeah!" he called across to the two shocked ninja. "It'll be the last thing you see before it blows you to bits!"

Naruto or Temari scrambled to their feet desperately, but before they could jump back to avoid the blast radius the clay clone shuddered, paused for the briefest of moments, and detonated in a flash of blinding white light, obscuring the two ninja from sight as Shikamaru yelled their names and Deidara laughed manically.

**Author's Notes:** Okay, hands up who saw the whole 'Gaara wakes up' thing coming? Anyone? If you did then well done you! Heh, I've had that little gem planned out right from the moment I started writing this fanfic, so it feels absolutely awesome to have it written out. I've got a few more twists and turns planned out for later on too, just to keep people in anticipation… Something that I wanted to talk about in the Author's Notes section for this chapter is the way that I contain multiple 'scene shifts' in a single chapter – for instance Chapter Ten contained seven shifts of narration, with perspectives from many different characters, including Sakura, Deidara and Itachi, as well as others too. I brought this up because a few reviewers have commented on how they didn't like some of the 'less important' sections, and I suppose if I shift scenes too much there is the potential to lose focus on the main plot. However, I've got to say that this is one thing that I quite like when reading the fanfiction of others – in my opinion the subplots are important to stop the main plot becoming 'stale', so is it just me that likes this part of my writing style or is there do others enjoy my scene shifts too? If a majority don't like it I'll try to lessen them in future, despite my preferences; after all, it's you guys I'm trying to entertain here! Also, I'd like to thank Rose Tiger, not just for reviewing almost every chapter of the story so far (though definitely that too!), but also for reviewing so quickly, generally on the day that I publish any new material, which is really nice to see. People being so eager to see my work makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, so thanks for the continuing support, it's not ignored and very much appreciated! Oh, and to answer the review from narutobelieveit9001, I've interpreted Hinata's **Juuho Soushiken **to be like a powered up, twin fisted chakra attack – think of it as being a Jyuuken strike with the surface area and destructive capabilities of a hammer rather than a pin, as an ordinary Jyuuken strike would have. And as for chapter updates, even if I'm busy or not really in the mood for writing (which does happen occasionally – I can be kinda lazy at times!) I force myself to sit down at the computer and write at least a couple of sentences every single day. It gets me through chapters fairly swiftly – I update as quickly as I can – and it makes me feel like I'm doing something productive for my precious readers! Ok, hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and I hope to update again fairly soon. Sorry for kinda leaving it on another cliffhanger, but hey, it keeps people interested, right? Anyway, until next time, bye!

**List of Jutsu:**

'**Kuchiyose: Tobidougu' = 'Summoning: Projectile Weapons' **

'**Omote Renge' = 'Front Lotus' **

'**Hakke Hyakunijuuhachishou' = 'Eight Divination Signs, One-Hundred-and-Twent-Eight Palms of the Hand' **

'**Sabaku Kyuu' ='Desert Coffin' **

'**Sabaku Sousou' = 'Desert Funeral' **

'**Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu' = 'Shadow Neck Bind Technique' **

'**Nendo Bunshin Daibakuha' = 'Clay Clone Explosion'**

**Joke Corner:**** Biology is the lesbian sister of Chemistry.**


	12. Precious People

Chapter Twelve: Precious People 

When she had told Kankuro that she would ask for another squad to be sent out to search for Gaara, Sakura had guessed it would be comprised of maybe three or four ninja. Five at the very most. She could hardly believe the huge numbers that had volunteered to be a part of the rescue mission – it seemed that every shinobi in the whole village, from the least experienced genin to the most battle hardened jonin, had pledged their support for their kidnapped Kazekage. Only Baki and a few 'skeleton staff' ninja had remained in Suna to keep things running smoothly and Gaara's former sensei had sent the mostly recovered Kankuro and the village elder Ebizou, who were joint leaders of the group, off on their mission with his blessing, wishing them luck.

In Sakura's opinion it was one of the most amazing sights she had even seen to witness literally hundreds of shinobi running tirelessly through deserts, forests and canyons, all to try and save their Kazekage. But what had made an even bigger impression on the pin haired medic nin was that as they had departed, passing through the village gates, a huge crowd of ordinary civilians had cheered them on their way. The total confidence the Suna residents were placing in them to recover Gaara was startling; they fully believed that soon they would have their Kazekage back with them.

Sakura smiled. Witnessing the whole of Suna united behind someone that only a few years ago had been hated and feared underlined the massive transformation that Gaara had made since his fight against Naruto. The younger generation of Suna ninja in particular seemed to be desperate to save him – the brown haired girl that Sakura had been travelling alongside, who had introduced herself as Matsuri, had described how Gaara's steady but kind leadership had bonded both ninja and civilians alike behind a common purpose, a goal to make Suna peaceful and prosperous.

"I hope that Gaara-sama is alright…" Matsuri whispered, almost to herself as the group sped through the treetops. "If anything happened to him, after all he did to protect us from the Akatsuki invasion…"

"I'm sure he'll be fine," smiled Sakura, trying to sound unconcerned despite her own worry. "Gaara-sama is very strong and my team will do all they can to protect him. We just have to have faith in them and help out however we can when we get there."

"But Gaara-sama needs us," said Matsuri sadly, her eyes downcast. "When the Akatsuki member attacked our village he put his life on the line to keep us safe whilst we all just watched on, helpless. Now he needs _our_ help, and I feel like I can't do anything. I need… umm, I mean, we need him."

Sakura raised her eyebrows at the girl's slip of the tongue towards the end of her small speech, but chose not to comment on it. More importantly, she could relate to Matsuri's feeling of powerlessness quite easily – not knowing what was happening was arguably worse than hearing that their fears had come to pass – so she tried to cheer up the brown haired kunoichi. "But everyone_ is_ trying to help now that he needs people to support him," she reasoned to the younger girl. "Isn't that exactly what he would have wanted, seeing the whole village united behind him as Kazekage?"

Matsuri shifted uncomfortably. "Not everyone," she whispered, so quietly that Sakura had to crane her neck to hear her. "Some of the members of the Village Council… they just see Gaara-sama as a monster. I think that some of them… some of them didn't even want to organise a rescue mission. But he's changed so much from the old days and we shouldn't blame him for the past. It was the previous Kazekage that ordered the Shukaku to be sealed inside him. Inside his own son! That's the image of Suna that Gaara-sama wants to leave behind… He's… a very kind man and wants Suna to be recognised by others as having changed… just like him…"

"But even if there are some people that still can't see him as the person that he really is, just look at everyone that volunteered to save him," Sakura pointed out. "The village's opinion of him may have been negative in the past and I suppose that Gaara-sama may never win over the respect and love of some of the villagers, but the majority of the people care for him now. Do you think any of these ninja that are risking their lives for Gaara-sama see him as a monster?"

Matsuri looked around, taking in the expressions of worry and determination on the faces of the Suna ninja surrounding her. Mustering a small, thankful smile, she murmured her gratitude to Sakura and refocused her attention on travelling even faster, hoping her efforts would allow her to reach Gaara just a little bit sooner.

-o-o-

Gai watched on in awe as his team systematically beat his clone down. Seeing Neji, Tenten and Lee working together to bring down the Akatsuki copy when he himself had been unable to defeat it was truly a sight to behold and Gai felt proud of the progress that his young charges had made. It had been holding its own against just Lee and Tenten, although just barely, but when Neji had joined in the duplicate of the spandex clad jonin had been well and truly outmatched.

The copy was sent reeling backwards from a powerful fist to the stomach by Lee, who immediately went airbourne and launched a flurry of downward kicks. The duplicate managed to protect itself from the worst of the strikes by crossing its arms in front of its face, but as soon as Lee ended his onslaught and jumped backwards Neji quickly moved in and jabbed at the clone from behind, shouting, **"Hakke Hasangeki!"**

The fake Gai managed to avoid the full force of the blow by twisting sharply, but Neji still made the slightest contact, brushing the clone's shoulder and blasting it off its feet into the rock wall behind it with a wave of condensed chakra. Seeing an opportunity as the duplicate of Gai sluggishly picked itself up from Neji's attack, Tenten pulled out a scroll and flared her chakra, causing a large, spiked ball to fly from the summoning contract. The Akatsuki copy jumped to the side to dodge the barbed sphere, but as soon as the weapon hit the rock face behind the clone it detonated with a loud bang, bringing the rest of the wall down too and burying the duplicate in a mound of rocky debris.

Tenten grimaced. _'It's not over yet,_' she thought grimly. _'No way would the real Gai-sensei be taken down by something like that, so we have to assume that this fake is still alive too.'_ Pulling a second scroll out from behind her back, Tenten hesitated for a split second before overcoming her indecision and making a signal to Gai, who snapped out of his dazed state of spectatorship and nodded at Lee and Neji, recognising Tenten's hand sign to be the signal for a team formation they had practiced. Following Tenten's lead Lee and Neji quickly moved into a V-shaped formation, with Tenten at the back of the group, Lee and Neji flanking her and the pile of fragmented rubble in the centre, an equal distance apart from all three shinobi. Gai stood closest to the collapsed rock wall in a defensive taijutsu stance, ready to carry out his own part of the plan.

The auburn haired Konoha kunoichi unfurled the scroll and with a burst of chakra and a puff of smoke a long section of chain was summoned, with explosive notes attached between the metal links. She threw one end to Neji and the other to Lee, just as the Akatsuki clone clawed its way out of the rubble. It was covered in dust and had a few noticeable scrapes and cuts where the skin around it was turning a festering green colour but still seemed to be in fighting condition. With a burst of power the rest of the duplicate's skin turned an angry red as it unlocked the Celestial Gates and there was a visible blue haze surrounding it as its chakra supply continued to rise.

However, before it could launch an attack Gai dived forwards and wrapped his arms around his doppelganger from behind in a powerful bear hug, preventing the copy from moving its arms. At the same moment, Neji and Lee dashed forward with each end of the chain in their hands. As Gai's duplicate struggled to break free from the original's grip, Lee and Neji circled them both, wrapping Tenten's chain around both of them tightly.

Gai winced as he felt the sharp metal links of the chain bite into his skin, but made sure to keep his grip around his copy as firm as possible. He knew from experience just how much power unlocking the Celestial Gates granted the user – if he let his clone get its arms free from his grip then the chain might as well have been made of paper for all the good it would do.

Lee and Neji continued to wrap the long chain around their former sensei and his clone, until neither one of them could move even an inch. Lee smiled widely as he passed his end of the chain back to Tenten, and Neji nodded wordlessly as he handed over his own section.

Tenten murmured a quick, "Thanks," to both of her teammates and glanced questioningly at the tied up Maito Gai. He couldn't move his hands to signal that he was ready, but he smiled a tooth gleaming smile and winked at her to signify that he was fully prepared.

Tenten couldn't help but wince at his choice of gesture – there had to be some law somewhere that prevented anyone wearing spandex from _ever _winking – but took a step forward and grasped both ends of the chain tightly in her hands. The clone was still struggling to break free and the chain was clinking and jerking about in Tenten's grip as the copy thrashed about, but the weapons expert gritted her teeth and slowly allowed her chakra to flow outwards into the chain. This needed to be very precise, otherwise Gai would be seriously hurt – her target was only the clone. The explosive tags around the duplicate began to fizzle as Tenten carefully moulded her chakra to activate the paper bombs around the copy. However, the explosive tags nearest to Gai remained inactive, just as Tenten had planned. Her former sensei would unfortunately still get a little singed by the blasts, but Gai's body would be shielded by his clone, meaning that so long as she measured her attack he wouldn't be blown to smithereens.

Taking a deep breath and hoping she wouldn't hurt her spandex clad teacher, the Konoha kunoichi flared her chakra into the explosive notes. The tags glowed for an instant, before exploding with a blinding flash of light. The controlled explosion kicked up a large cloud of dust, obscuring Gai and his copy from view, but using his Byakugan to see what had happened Neji called out, "Gai-sensei is unharmed. There is no need to panic, Tenten," before the weapons expert could get overly worried.

Tenten let out the breath she had been holding, her heart thumping against her ribcage. Silently she thanked Neji for being so alert to her anxiety. This formation had paid off in the past – both Lee and Neji had previously been in Gai's situation, putting their lives directly into her hands – but the risk of hurting her teammates was one that she could never push completely to one side. Even though she had confidence in her own abilities, knowing that even the slightest error could result in serious injuries – or worse – was a responsibility that she didn't want to have to face unless she could avoid it.

As the smoke cleared, Tenten could see that Neji was right; Gai was indeed perfectly fine for the most part, having been sheltered behind his duplicate and avoiding the worst of the attack. He was coughing from the resulting smoke cloud and Tenten noticed guiltily that he had a few minor burns – his hands in particular, as he had been holding the clone in place for the explosion – but his smile remained very much intact. Tenten smiled shakily. At least some things never changed.

The Akatsuki copy, on the other hand, had taken the full brunt of the numerous blasts. It was now a barely recognisable pasty smear, spread out across the floor at Gai's feet and covering his sandals. Tenten noticed with distaste that rotting clumps of the Akatsuki jutsu's body had also been flung in various directions by the force of the blast – there was one particularly disgusting green stain on the trunk of a tree several feet away.

Gai made a face and wiped his soiled sandal on the ground, trying to remove the green gunk from his footwear. Managing to get the worst of the mess off, he turned to face his young charges. "YOSH!" he shouted, raising a hand in the air. "EXCELLENT WORK, MY YOUTHFUL PUPILS! NOW THAT WE HAVE DEFEATED OURSELVES, WE MUST HURRY TO THE AID OF HINATA-SAN AND CHIYO-BAASAMA!"

Noticing that all of his students had put their hands over their ears to block out his incredibly loud voice, Gai blinked confusedly, then chuckled. "Ah, my apologies," he said, speaking more quietly this time. "I did not realise that I was speaking so loudly. The explosion must have momentarily disrupted my hearing. But more importantly, we must now support our fellow shinobi in their fight against the Akatsuki members. There is no time to lose!"

-o-o-

Leaning on each other for support, Hinata and Gaara exited the cave together, with one final glance back at the unmoving forms of Sasori and Chiyo. Gaara's breathing was still slightly heavy, but he was no longer wheezing quite so badly and a little colour had returned to his face. Hinata too was feeling slightly better, though by no means in perfect condition – her throat still felt sore from Sasori's poison gas attack, her chakra supply was depleted, her muscles were tired after all of her exertions and her left ankle was very sore and bruised from where she had landed after the puppet had broken through her final unsuccessful **Kaiten. **The adrenaline of the fight was beginning to die down and she could feel the aches and pains through her body even more acutely than during the battle itself – her ankle in particular, which she had barely noticed during the fight, was now throbbing painfully. However, in terms of genuine injuries, other than her painful ankle she only had a few fairly minor cuts and scrapes. Quite honestly she was amazed that she had escaped the battle with so few wounds.

Hinata and Gaara stood outside the cave's entrance for a few moments in silence, the small amount of chakra needed to support themselves on the water's surface and the emotional end to the fight with Sasori leaving them both too tired to speak. Hinata wanted to try and catch up with Naruto and the rest of the team that had gone after the other Akatsuki member, but shifting her weight on the water reminded her of her ankle and she only just contained a whimper of pain. Walking unaided was out of the question in her current condition.

As her ankle twinged uncomfortably again, an image of Chiyo shielding her flashed across her mind. Hinata's tears had dried up, but she couldn't stop thinking of how the elderly woman had sacrificed herself without so much as a second thought. The Suna kunoichi had seemed so quiet and withdrawn at first, but right before she had died she had been just like an ordinary grandmother, smiling at her grandson with love in her eyes. Although Hinata had been a little intimidated by the mysterious, aged woman at first, wondering why she had been so distant and taciturn, after talking with her at the camp the Hyuuga girl had realised that despite her first impressions Chiyo truly was a loving, caring person. Hinata's initial curiosity as to why she had decided to go on the mission at all – at her age it was clear that she had retired from active duty as a ninja, so she didn't have to be a part of the rescue team – had also been cleared up by their conversation that night; hearing Chiyo talk about her grandson and seeing her interact with him in the heat of battle showed she still felt the bonds of family, no matter how hard Sasori had tried to sever them. She had wanted to kill Sasori only to save him from himself.

After a long silence Gaara spoke up. "Chiyo-baasama shall be given an honourable burial," he said turning his gaze towards the sky. "I give you my word. It is the very least that she deserves for her bravery and her dedication to Suna."

Hinata nodded, not trusting herself to speak. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she murmured, "Thank you, K-Kazekage-sama…" in a quiet voice.

Gaara lapsed into silence once again after hearing her thanks and tentatively shifted his weight away from Hinata to support himself on his own feet. They trembled slightly beneath him but he was able to stand atop the water on his own. He took a few wobbly steps but managed to regain his balance and slowly began walking towards the shore of the lake. Hinata followed him as best as she could, trying to avoid putting unnecessary pressure on her left leg.

As he reached the shore Gaara slumped down onto the floor in a seated position, breathing deeply, though not panting for air as he had been earlier. Hinata sat herself down beside him as she stepped onto the land herself, stretching out her legs into a more comfortable position for her ankle. She looked down at it to see how bad it was. To her relief it didn't look like it was broken – the surrounding flesh was red and inflamed, but she was able to gently rotate the joint and wriggle her toes without too much pain.

Gaara looked down at the pebbles on the small, rocky beach. Slowly, fascinated, he picked up a handful of the damp, glistening stones. Cupping them in his hands he let them flow over each other, watching intently as the light flashed off them, before allowing them to fall through his fingers with a patter like raindrops as they hit the ground.

The red headed Jinchuuriki boy let out a sigh. "You have my gratitude… for saving me, I mean… Hinata-san, was it? I think I recognise you from the Chuunin Exams back in Konoha."

Hinata nodded, surprised at both being remembered by the Kazekage and by his words. "Ano… you d-don't need to thank me, Kazekage-sama. Your village is allied to mine, and you are the Kazekage – if our Hokage was in the same position I'm sure that you would wish to h-help too. And b-besides, you saved me as well, remember?"

"That is true," Gaara nodded tiredly, a hint of uncertainty in his usually stoic voice. "But… when I was unconscious and the Akatsuki were sucking out my chakra… I couldn't help but think that no-one would come to save me at all. That I was… alone again."

Hinata glanced at him, concerned. "Ano… I heard about the Ichibi sealed inside you –" Gaara tensed slightly at the name of the monster sealed away in his stomach but didn't interrupt "– And I know you must have had a very cruel childhood… The people shouldn't have t-treated you the way they did. But…" Hinata paused for a moment, looking across at Gaara before asking, confused, "I d-don't understand. With everyone that cares about you… why would you think that you're alone again?"

Gaara jerked his head up at her, surprise written across his face. He opened his mouth to protest the point but no words came out. Seeing his uncertainty, Hinata took a deep breath and continued as gently as she could, "You have m-many people that were willing to risk their lives to help you. Back in Suna, Baki-sama was willing to send out a whole army to search for you if that was what it took. Your brother, K-Kankuro-san, attacked two Akatsuki members on his own to try and save you and your sister is on this mission with me – she seems very w-worried about you. And…" Hinata paused again and blushed slightly, but continued, "I know that Naruto-kun would n-never abandon you, or any of his f-friends. He admires you v-very much."

Gaara's eyebrows shot up when he heard the name of his fellow demon container. "Uzumaki Naruto came on your mission as well?" Seeing Hinata nod, her cheeks still faintly pink, he let a small, contented smile grace his lips. "I see… Thank you for informing me of that, Hinata-san. I feel… happy… that now I have precious people too, just like him. I owe him a great deal." Gaara straightened his back and looked straight ahead, his smile spreading and becoming a small but undeniable grin. Despite his bloodshot eyes, matted hair and pale skin, there was a quiet aura of determination and inner peace radiating from him.

Then Hinata heard a shout of, "Hinata-sama!" from behind her. Turning her head at the familiar voice, she called out, "Neji-niisan!" delightedly in reply, gingerly rising to her feet as her cousin and the rest of Team Gai ran onto the rocky beach.

"Yosh! Where is your opponent, Hinata-san?" asked Lee eagerly, jumping to the front of the group and hopping from one foot to the other with excitement. "As a certified genius of hard work, I will show him the power of the Springtime of Youth!" Then Lee's eyes widened comically with total surprise as he noticed Gaara, still seated behind the Hyuuga girl. His eyebrows knitted together as he attempted to make sense of what was happening, his eyes shifting from Hinata, to Gaara, to the collapsed cave behind them. "Wait… if Gaara-sama is here… and Hinata-san is also here… and the cave has been destroyed… and there is no sign of the Akatsuki… that must mean…" Lee's face scrunched up as the cogs slowly turned in his head, before a flash of inspiration lit up his face and he shouted out, "That must mean… you were successful in your youthful endeavours?"

Seeing Hinata nod hesitantly, Lee and Gai both cheered, a warm smile crossed Neji's face and Tenten gasped. "You mean you actually beat him, Hinata? That's fantastic! You're amazing, I can't believe – wait, where's Chiyo-baasama? Shouldn't she be here too?"

Hinata flinched at the mention of the elderly Suna kunoichi – the memory of Chiyo's death, right in front of her own eyes, was something the Hyuuga girl couldn't get out of her head. Her eyes downcast and her voice shaky, she whispered, "Chiyo-baasama… is g-gone."

Team Gai all bowed their heads solemnly at her words, even the usually exuberant Gai and Lee. They all knew the risks of going on a mission as dangerous as this, but the death of a comrade was still nothing to take lightly.

Hearing the lost, desolate tone in the indigo haired girl's voice and realising her obvious distress, Tenten realised what must have happened and immediately felt bad about bringing up Chiyo's absence so directly. "Oh, Hinata, I'm so sorry, that was so insensitive of me! I didn't mean to say it like I was accusing you or anything like that!"

Raising her eyes to meet the gaze of her fellow Konoha kunoichi, Hinata gave a watery smile. "It's a-alright, Tenten-san, I d-don't mind."

Seeing his younger cousin on the verge of tears, Neji decided to step in and help her by diverting the conversation to a less emotional subject. It seemed clear to him that Chiyo's death was not something she felt she could talk about yet, not until she'd had time to process the emotions she was feeling. "We can discuss exactly what happened later, but right now we still have a mission to take care of," he announced tersely, taking a protective step closer to his cousin. "Kakashi's squad are still chasing after the other Akatsuki member, and we should back them up. Kazekage-sama, Hinata-sama, can the two of you travel with us?"

"It is unfortunate, but there is the possibility that I could slow you down," Gaara responded, a slight trace of irritation apparent in his voice at the weakness he felt after the Akatsuki's interference. "I may be in need of some assistance."

Hinata shook her head, biting her lip nervously. "Ano… I hurt my ankle in the f-fight. I d-don't think I could keep up either…" Hinata paused for a moment, ducking her head as her emotions getting the better of her for a moment, before whispering in a voice so quiet that only Neji could hear, "I'm sorry, I f-feel like such a b-burden again…"

Neji said nothing in reply, instead turning away so that his back was facing her and squatting down slightly. "Ano… Neji-niisan…what are y-you doing?" Hinata asked, confused by his strange change in posture.

Neji glanced back in her direction. "What does it look like I am doing, Hinata-sama?" he replied coolly, arching an eyebrow. "You are unable to walk, and as a member of the branch family it is my duty to assist you. Please allow me to carry you."

Although his words were serious and business-like there was a small smile on his face. Hinata smiled timidly back and hobbled over to him, settling herself onto his back as best as she could and murmuring a quiet, "Thank you, Neji-niisan."

Neji turned to face her, the smile on his face widening a fraction. "There is no need to thank me, Hinata-sama," he whispered back to her. "As I said, it is my duty to help you however I am able." He paused for a moment, shifting her weight so that she was less awkwardly positioned and allowing Hinata to reach her arms around his neck to prevent herself from slipping off his back. "But more importantly… you should take great pride in what you have achieved today. Surviving a fight against an Akatsuki ninja is no small feat. I am very proud of you and your accomplishment. And I am certain that Hiashi-sama will be very proud of you too."

Hinata's eyes went wide at his words and she blushed bright pink, but she couldn't stop her smile from growing. If she hadn't already had her arms wrapped around him she would have hugged her cousin. Instead she just whispered, "Thank you, Neji-niisan," again in an emotional, choked up voice and tightened her arms around his neck. Neji nodded silently in acknowledgement.

Listening to the two cousins talk, Tenten smiled at how Neji had managed to reconnect with the main branch of the Hyuuga clan, putting all his bitterness behind him, as Gai and Lee began celebrating 'the youthful bonds of family,' tears streaming down their faces as they hugged.

Recovering from his emotional outburst, Lee walked over to Gaara and mimicked Neji's posture, squatting slightly and offering his back. "Gaara-sama, you said that you needed assistance travelling?" the spandex clad chuunin enquired, flashing a gleaming smile at him. "I would be happy to offer my youthfu–"

Gaara's eye twitched. "On second thoughts," he interrupted stonily, rising to his feet, "I would prefer to walk."

-o-o-

There were times when Kakashi felt much older than he actually was. The day his father had died. The mission in which he had lost his eye and Obito had been crushed. The night of the Kyuubi's attack. Sasuke's defection from Konoha to join Orochimaru. Although he was only in his twenties, he had witnessed so much and lost so many people precious to him that occasionally he felt like a broken down, lonely old man.

That was why, when he saw the clay clone of Gaara begin to glow a blinding white, he knew he couldn't let Naruto and Temari die. His blonde haired student, who had put up with so much pain and torment without even the slightest complaint or frown, was very precious to Kakashi, despite being loud and obnoxious sometimes, and Temari was a comrade, an ally. He couldn't ever abandon the people that relied on him, the people that trusted him. Especially when he had so few of them left.

Kakashi felt the burning sensation return as his Sharingan eye began to spin once again, but he ignored it as much as he could and focused all his attention on the fake Gaara, which had swelled up rapidly and was glowing white. With a shudder, the clay clone detonated violently and Kakashi quickly forced chakra into his eye.

A small rift in the air appeared next to the source of the explosion and began sucking the force of the blast in, away from Naruto and Temari. Immediately Kakashi could tell that the vortex he had created wasn't quite close enough to the explosion's starting point – the intense heat and shockwave caused by the blast weren't fully contained by the Mangekyo Sharingan's spatial rend and Naruto's clones were forcibly dispelled by the impact. The masked copy nin gritted his teeth, feeling the intensity and heat of the blast even from the distance he was at, and strengthened the suction of the vortex he had created as best as he could. The stinging pain in his left eye became even more agonising and just keeping his eye open was torture, but Kakashi refused to yield to the pain whilst Naruto and Temari were still in danger.

'_I won't let another ally die when I could have done something to prevent it,' _the silver haired jonin thought grimly, digging his fingernails into the palm of his hand to try and distract himself from the condition of his eye. _'Not this time!'_

To his relief, he could see that the now strengthened division in the air was drawing the explosion in. If not for the biting pain and his vision beginning to blur, Kakashi would have found the scene beautiful – the blast was sucked into the vortex like brightly coloured water down a plughole and the surrounding air shimmered in the light of the explosion like the reflections of thousands of mirrors all at once.

Kakashi grunted as the gap in the air that he had created finally blinked out of existence, having successfully absorbed the explosion, and the strain on his Sharingan eye ended. Groaning, he allowed his eyelid to shut and relished the cooling sensation. His entire body was shaking from the effort of using the doujutsu a second time, but the knowledge that everyone was safe was enough for him. Even so, he had to admit that he wasn't feeling all that great. Not only was his eye almost unbearably sore, he had used up almost all of his chakra. He felt almost totally helpless. He had just enough chakra for maybe one last Mangekyo Sharingan attack. If he tried any more than that it would probably kill him.

Up on the tree branch, Naruto blinked rapidly several times to clear his vision from the blinding flash of the explosion. His ears were ringing from the force of the blast and Temari seemed to be in the same condition as him, judging by the way that she was covering her ears with her hands. As the bright spots of light in front of his eyes gradually rescinded, Naruto looked around, confused by the explosion just suddenly vanishing and trying to find out just how he hadn't been burnt to a crisp. Then he noticed his silver haired sensei, who had one hand covering his left eye, and realised what must have happened.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you alright?" Naruto shouted, though with his distorted hearing it sounded like he was hearing someone else speaking from far away and it sent a bolt of pain straight into his skull. Groaning, Naruto inserted a finger into his ear and twisted it, trying to make the ringing sound stop so he could hear his sensei's reply.

"Yeah… I'll be fine…" came Kakashi's exhausted answer. "Just give me… a minute… or two…"

'_Kakashi-sensei's using his new Sharingan thingy too much!' _realised Naruto, watching as the masked copy nin breathed heavily and dragged himself into a standing position, leaning on one of the valley walls for support. _'It must be like in that fight against Zabuza back in Wave Country. That attack of his was amazing though! For a pervert who's always late, Kakashi-sensei sure is one powerful ninja!'_

Naruto heard a shout, slightly muffled by his messed up hearing. "Naruto, Temari, are you ok?" It took Naruto a few moments to realise that it was Shikamaru's voice that he had just heard, sounding both panicked and relieved at the same time.

"Yeah, we're both fine!" Naruto yelled back at the Nara boy on the other side of the valley. "But where'd that Akatsuki bastard go?"

Shikamaru inwardly cursed as he realised that he had released the clay using ninja from his shadow in the panic to warn Naruto and Temari. _'That was sloppy,'_ he told himself critically, disappointed by his lack of composure. Eyes darting, he searched for the armless man as quickly as he could, hoping to make up for his previous error. He didn't have far to look – the Akatsuki member had dropped down beside the headless body of the giant bird he had been riding and was tearing chunks out of it with his mouth.

Naruto and Temari had noticed him too and along with Shikamaru started moving purposefully towards him, Temari raising her fan to finish him off and Naruto grunting, **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" **to summon a dozen clones to surround the clay user, blocking off any escape route. Deidara saw the three ninja and the hoard of shadow clones approaching but merely continued ripping out pieces of clay between his teeth as fast as he could. He could only see one way out of his current situation and survival was a lot more important right now than trying to take on three ninja at once with no arms. He may have been arrogant, but he was no fool.

"There's nowhere left to run, you Akatsuki freak!" shouted the original Naruto, pointing angrily at Deidara. "You're finished!"

Deidara muttered, **"Jibaku Bunshin,"** under his breath, before smirking at the assembled ninja. "Well, if I really am finished, how would all of you like to see my ultimate work of art, yeah? I know you'll be impressed… Because my art… truly is… a bang!"

"No way…" Shikamaru murmured, eyes widening as the blonde haired man tore off one final strip of clay from the grounded bird. "Surely even this guy wouldn't be crazy enough to…" Shikamaru trailed off as he saw the Akatsuki ninja begin to swell up, the seams of his cloud patterned robes straining, and realised what was about to happen. He groaned inwardly. _'Not again…'_ he thought to himself, leaping backwards to escape from the blast radius. _'Explosions are so troublesome…'_

With a piercing, high pitched scream, Deidara detonated, vanishing in a flash of light. The shrill shriek seemed to last an age, echoing like an ungodly curse before finally petering out. A loud roaring noise, like a thousand thunderstorms all at once, announced the presence of the explosion, closing in on Naruto, Shikamaru and Temari rapidly. The three of them forced chakra into their legs, desperately trying to outrun it. Glancing over his shoulder, Shikamaru did some quick mental calculations in his head, trying to work out whether they would be safe or not. _'Shit!' _he cursed inwardly, trying to run faster as the explosion began to gain on them, blossoming outward like a fiery, destructive flower. _'At this rate we're not gonna make it!'_ He could feel the air becoming hot and stifling, closing in around him and seeming to drag him back into the inferno, and there was sweat on his forehead. He didn't know whether it was from the all encompassing heat that was buzzing around him like a swarm of angry locusts or from the fear that clenched at his gut. _'Probably both,' _he concluded, repressing the crazy urge to laugh. In a situation like this, it wasn't like there was anything else he could do.

His eyes flickered to Temari, running alongside him as fast as she could, her teeth gritted and a mixture of grim determination and panic flashing across her eyes as she came to the same conclusion that he had made. The contrast of light and shadows caused by the explosion, combined with the way that her speed was making her bunched up hair flow out behind her, made her look startlingly beautiful, like a fearsome warrior queen. Shikamaru almost burst out into hysterical laughter again. _'Oh God, what's wrong with me?' _he asked himself, bemused by the path his thoughts were taking him down. _'Here I am, about to die, and all I can think about is that troublesome woman? I must be going senile…'_

Naruto, meanwhile, was desperately running through the list of every jutsu, strategy and technique that he ever learned, trying to find something – Hell, _anything_ – that might help him escape. But as the roar of the blast increased, so much so that it was all consuming, everywhere at once, vibrating Naruto from the inside out and making his teeth rattle, the orange clad ninja couldn't think of anything useful._ 'I don't know how to Shunshin… Kawarimi doesn't work at long distances… summoning a toad to block the explosion would just hurt it… Dammit, Ero-Sennin, why didn't you teach me anything for a situation like this?' _he screamed inside his head, glancing desperately over his shoulder at the incoming fireball. The white hot heat was even worse than the noise – the temperatures he had experienced in the desert, on the way to Suna, weren't even comparable. This was like floating inside the core of the sun. He grimaced and sucked in a quick, sharp breath, before shutting his mouth as quickly as possible – inhaling the biting hot air was hurting his throat.

Then, as the searing heat began to burn the skin on the back of his neck and became almost unbearable, Naruto felt the temperature and sound of the giant explosion suddenly die down, leaving a cooler, delicious silence behind. Naruto gulped in a grateful breath of air – it was still warm from the blast but to his parched throat it was like a fresh sea breeze. Turning around and wincing as he rubbed the back of his scorched neck, Naruto looked for any trace of the explosion, guessing that he and the others had managed to outrun it, but to his surprise there was nothing but a group of scorched, toppled trees and a slight acrid smell wafting in the air. There wasn't even any smoke. The pony tailed man had totally disappeared too; Naruto could only assume that he had been consumed by the blast. The blonde haired boy shuddered; even if the clay using guy had been a part of the Akatsuki and had kidnapped Gaara, going to the extreme of blowing himself up rather than being captured or defeated seemed like a serious overreaction.

Naruto heard a groan from the valley, followed by a light thumping sound. His eyes widened as he remembered Kakashi's condition and he raced over to his fallen jonin instructor. The silver haired man had collapsed onto his front and was tightly covering his left eye with one hand. He didn't look in particularly good shape at all.

"Kakashi-sensei, are you ok?" Naruto asked worriedly, dropping to his knees to talk to the immobile copy nin.

Kakashi made a noise that sounded halfway between a groan and a chuckle. "You really do ask the most obvious questions, don't you Naruto?" he answered tiredly, smiling slightly underneath his mask. Naruto relaxed slightly. If his sensei was well enough to joke around then he obviously wasn't in any immediate danger. "In the long run I think I should be alright," the silver haired jonin continued, grunting as he tried unsuccessfully to sit up. "But right now I can barely even move. Using the Mangekyo Sharingan three times in a row is pretty damn tiring."

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Huh? Three times? I only count two… Wait, just now, was that you that stopped that explosion from catching us?"

Kakashi smiled weakly. "Bingo. I transported Deidara and the blast to another dimension. We won't be seeing him again any time soon. But…" he made a feeble gesture with one hand, "It took its toll on my body. I'm not going anywhere without some help."

Naruto nodded and grabbed hold of Kakashi's arm. He wrapped the arm tightly around his neck and pulled himself back to his feet, drapping his jonin sensei into an upright position. Naruto grunted as he took a couple of experimental steps – Kakashi was heavier than he had expected and the fact that he was both taller than Naruto and basically a deadweight meant that his feet were dragging along the floor.

As Kakashi's slack body began to slide away from Naruto's grip, the orange clad shinobi called out irritably, "Oi, Shikamaru! I could use a hand here!"

On the edge of the blast radius, Shikamaru didn't immediately respond to Naruto's annoyed shout. He was surveying the landscape in the aftermath of the explosion, gazing critically at the blackened, flattened trees and the scorched earth. He was relieved at managing to survive the blast, of course, but something was bothering him. He didn't know what it was exactly that was troubling him, but the Akatsuki ninja's decision to recklessly self-destruct had seemed a little… off. After listening to him speak and studying his fighting style, Shikamaru supposed that maybe a last ditch suicide attack didn't seem all that out of place on the surface, particularly when considering his whole fixation on the 'beauty of art.' And yet something still didn't quite add up… The pony tailed man had kept them at a long distance for as long as possible during the chase – not the actions of a man unhinged, with no regard for his own safety. Was the clay user trying to fool them? Distract them all with a pretty light show in order to make his escape?

The Nara boy was pulled from his thoughts by Temari tugging on his sleeve. "Shikamaru, what's wrong? Come on, we have to go," she whispered urgently. "We should help Naruto with Kakashi-san, and then we've still got to find my brother, remember? The Gaara that we were chasing was just a clone, so the real Gaara must be back in the cave. We haven't got time to waste – the others could still be fighting against the second Akatsuki member!"

Shikamaru mentally shook himself and nodded at the Suna kunoichi. She was right; the mission was to find Gaara, not hunt down the Akatsuki, no matter how tempting it may be. Judging by the way her hands were clenched into fists she had wanted to catch the man that had stolen her brother from his home even more than he did, but she was focusing on the task at hand, and he should too. The shadow using chuunin shrugged minutely. Hell, maybe he was just analysing things in too much detail. When backed into a corner even rational people could do crazy things and what with his ego and the pride he placed in his 'art' this guy wasn't exactly the most reasonable and level-headed.

"Yeah, you're right," he answered, smiling slightly at her. "I'm just being paranoid, that's all."

Temari smiled back at him, a very faint tint of pink in her cheeks as they took one last look at the now barren wasteland of the Akatsuki ninja's final explosion. The desolate landscape contrasted strikingly with the setting sun, casting an orange glow over the forest as it slowly descended. The Suna kunoichi searched one last time for any trace of her brother's kidnapper before wrinkling her nose with disappointment. She had seen Kakashi's Sharingan spinning out of the corner of her eye when running from the explosion and knew that he must have used his dimensional rift attack again to disperse the suicidal blast, but a small part of her couldn't help but wish that she had been able to take the Akatsuki bastard down herself. Anyone that messed with her family had her to answer to.

Shikamaru sighed and turned away from the scene of destruction, rubbing the back of his neck. After watching the sunset for a moment with Temari he felt uncharacteristically embarrassed for some reason. He coughed, feeling slightly flustered, and there was a short awkward pause.

"Temari?" the Nara boy asked, his voice slightly hesitant as he broke the silence.

"Yeah?" she responded quietly, a note of curiosity to her voice as she waited to hear what Shikamaru wanted to say.

The shadow using chuunin coughed restlessly again. "… Don't worry. I… We're going to get your brother back for you. No matter what it takes."

Temari's cheeks flushed slightly again and Shikamaru was once again struck by how feminine she seemed in the light of the setting sun. He took a step closer before he even realised what he was doing, so that his face was just inches away from her own. He licked his dry lips nervously and, slowly but surely, he began to lean in.

"Dammit Shikamaru, give me some help over here!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes as the moment was shattered. "Yeah, I know, I'm coming!" he shouted back to the spiky haired shinobi, who was only just managing to hold the limp Kakashi upright. Temari blinked and averted her eyes from his, her face still dusted with a light blush, before leaping over to help Naruto and Kakashi.

Shikamaru watched as she hoisted Kakashi up so that Naruto could carry him more securely. He realised that he was staring at her and shook his head, irritated by the fact that he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away – and, even more annoyingly, he didn't _want_ to tear his eyes away. _'Why do I always get myself into these situations?' _he groaned inwardly. _'She has to be the most difficult woman on the face of the Earth. Out of all of the girls I could have liked, why did it have to be her?' _Finally managing to look away from her, with a bigger effort than he wanted to admit even to himself, he gazed up at the few wispy clouds in the sky. Under his breath he muttered, "How troublesome…"

-o-o-

With the new additions of Hinata and Gaara slowing them down, Team Gai kept at a fairly sedate pace as they followed the trail of footprints left behind by Kakashi's squad. Of course, 'sedate' by Maito Gai's standards was still pretty damn speedy in the eyes of almost any other ninja.

From her position on Neji's back at the front of the group, watching as the team entered a valley of criss-crossing tree roots, Hinata began to worry about how Kakashi's squad was coping. She had been so preoccupied with her own fight and Chiyo's death that she had barely any chance to feel anxious about the team tracking down the other Akatsuki member, but now that she had an opportunity to think she couldn't help but feel deeply concerned, especially for Naruto. From her battles against Sasori and the pseudo-Itachi, she knew one thing for certain – the Akatsuki were very, very dangerous.

'_But Kakashi-sensei is one of the most powerful and experienced jonin in Konoha,' _she thought, trying to reason with herself and calm her nerves, _'And Temari-san is a jonin too. Shikamaru-san is an excellent strategist… and Naruto-kun is the strongest person I know. I have to believe in him… believe in them all.'_

The rest of the group were in silence as they travelled, even the loud and exuberant Gai and Lee, preparing themselves mentally for the possibility of a battle ahead. Hinata caught Tenten's eye, worried that the weapons expert may have thought she was holding a grudge and still be upset, but the older girl smiled back at her, much to Hinata's relief. Her cousin's female teammate was one of the few girls of a similar age to herself that she really spent any time around, and she enjoyed the auburn haired kunoichi's company. She smiled inwardly as she spotted Neji crane his neck slightly and glance at the weapons expert. _'Not as much as Neji-niisan does, though…'_

As if prompted into action by her thoughts, Neji, who had quickly turned away from Tenten before she spotted him, made a routine scan with his Byakugan and held up a hand. "Everyone, stop," he announced, landing lightly on one of the tree roots as Gai glanced at him questioningly. "There is no need to continue. Kakashi-san and his squad are heading this way, straight towards us."

"Are they all ok? No-one's hurt, are they?" asked Hinata, unable to keep the edge of worry out of her voice and feeling her heartbeat speed up. She tried to stay calm in situations like this, she really did, but she was just a natural worrier at heart. Being in the dark, not knowing if her friends and allies were safe and only being able to wait for their return was the worst part – if she could have done something to help, to lessen her anxieties and help Naruto or the others in any way whatsoever, she would have done it without hesitating.

Neji shook his head. "Kakashi-san seems to be unable to walk and is being carried, but he is conscious at the very least and the others appear to be unharmed."

Hinata sighed with relief, taking deep breaths to still her fluttering heart. Gaara, who had been listening quietly but intently to the news of his sister's team's impending return, also appeared pleased to hear that his sibling was safe.

"Neji, what of the second Akatsuki member?" Gai asked, his eyebrows furrowed thoughtfully. "Have Kakashi and his team successfully apprehended or eliminated him, or was he able to escape?"

Neji refocused his eyes, expanding the range of his vision and briefly giving the surrounding area a sweeping study. After a few moments he sighed. "I cannot be certain," he admitted, deactivating his Byakugan and frowning slightly at what he had seen. "There doesn't appear to be any trace of him that I can find in the surrounding area, but there is a large crater further ahead that looks as though it has been caused by an explosion of some sort. It could well be that he perished in the blast. We can only be certain when Kakashi-san and his team return." The Hyuuga boy's frown became a smile. "Speaking of which…"

Hinata's eyes widened with hopeful anticipation as she absorbed the meaning of her cousin's last sentence and she peered over Neji's shoulder, looking for any sign of Naruto. Sure enough, in the distance but getting closer by the second, she could see four ninja approaching. Kakashi was being propped up by a combination of Naruto and Shikamaru, with an arm around each of their necks, but managed to half-wave as he saw Gai's team waiting for them all.

Temari's eyes flickered from one member of the waiting group to another as she searched for any sign of her brother. When she spotted Gaara's distinctive red hair she gasped out loud and jumped the remaining gap between them in a single leap, with Naruto, who had also spotted his long-time friend, only a second behind her, leaving a grumbling Shikamaru to support Kakashi on his own. Before the young Kazekage could do more than blink with surprise his older sister was showering him with hugs and kisses, moaning his name over and over as tears trickled down her cheeks and into his hair. Gaara was initially frozen with shock at his sister's heartfelt reaction to seeing him again, but after a few seconds hesitantly returned her hug, his own eyes slightly moist.

Eventually Temari released him from her hug, the tears still flowing from her eyes. "Oh, Gaara, I thought I'd lost you," she cried, wiping her eyes with her hand. "When I heard you'd been kidnapped and that you were all alone, I just… just…" Temari took a deep, shaky breath to compose herself and smiled at Gaara, giving him another hug. "Thank goodness you're safe," she whispered into his ear, holding him tightly, as if her embrace would protect him from any further harm. "I don't know what I would have done if you weren't."

"You're crying… because of me?" Gaara asked falteringly, raising his eyes to meet hers, his confusion evident at the sight of her tears winding their way down her face.

Temari sobbed and laughed at the same time. "Of course I am, silly! You may be Kazekage now, but you'll always be my little brother to me!"

From behind his sister Gaara heard a second voice speak up. "Oi, Gaara, nice to see again! I'm glad you're ok!"

Temari let Gaara step past her to stand face to face with the one that had spoken. The red haired Kazekage wetted his mouth, which suddenly felt very dry, before muttering, "It's good to see you again too, Naruto."

Naruto scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "I heard you're the Kazekage now, congratulations! I'm still a measly genin… I guess I've got a lot of work to do to catch up."

Gaara stared at his fellow demon container in silence for a moment, weighing up the blonde boy's dirt streaked appearance and carefully measuring his words. "The road to becoming the leader of one's village is long and arduous, requiring both perseverance and sacrifice. It takes a great deal of political nous and patience as well as strength and confidence to be a worthy ruler. Are you certain that you possess the necessary attributes to become Hokage in the future?"

Naruto opened his mouth to answer with the loudest, 'Hell yes!' he could muster, but before he could say anything a soft but insistent voice spoke up for him. "Ano… Naruto-kun will be an excellent Hokage, Gaara-sama. At least… umm… I believe he w-will."

Turning his head at the sound of the voice, Naruto grinned when he saw it was Hinata that had spoken, but his smile quickly faded when he realised that she was being supported by Neji, who was gently letting her off his back. As she quietly thanked her cousin for his help, Naruto noticed that her ankle looked swollen and red, and her eyes… had she been crying?

"Are you… ok?" he asked her hesitantly, as she walked towards him slowly, limping slightly due to her painful ankle. "You look kinda beaten up."

Hinata nodded, gazing up at him shyly. "My ankle hurts a little, but I should b-be ok, I think. Neji-niisan had to carry me though…"

Naruto glanced down at her ankle again and winced at seeing the sore, red skin in closer detail. "But if you got Gaara back, that must mean that you won your fight, right?" he questioned, thinking quickly as he tried to cheer her up. She looked rather forlorn with her injured ankle and she had plenty of cuts and bruises on the rest of her body too by the looks of things. Seeing Neji giving her a piggy back made her seem almost like a little girl to Naruto – if he hadn't already known her to be a strong and capable kunoichi he would have thought her to be frail and vulnerable, something he knew from seeing her fight in the past was definitely not true.

"Ano… if it hadn't b-been for Gaara-sama and Chiyo-baasama, I wouldn't have made it," Hinata answered quietly, her head lowered. It was still painful even talking about what had happened back in the cave – the memories felt like they were burned into the back of her eyeballs and she was certain she would never forget the expression on Chiyo's face as she had died next to her grandson. "Both of them saved me… Gaara-sama was the one that killed Sasori, not m-me… and Chiyo-baasama sacrificed herself to protect me…"

Naruto's breath caught in his throat as he realised that Chiyo wasn't in the group that had met his team. He swallowed. "You mean…?" He trailed off, not wanting to ask the question in its entirety.

Hinata's miserable nod confirmed what he already knew. Naruto knew that death was a part of the ninja's world that couldn't be avoided, and at least Chiyo had lived a long and full life, but still… This was the first time that one of his own allies had ever died on a mission with him. He wished that he'd been able to help in some way. Maybe if he'd stayed behind and let Kakashi, Shikamaru and Temari handle the clay user on their own…

Naruto scowled. No, he couldn't think that way. He'd done what he could for the mission – he couldn't have done more without going against Kakashi's commands and he trusted his sensei's judgement. And besides, he'd barely known Chiyo, whereas Hinata had been a lot more familiar with the aged Suna kunoichi. If he was finding it hard to come to terms with it must have been much worse for the indigo haired girl. He shouldn't be thinking only about how this was affecting him – that would be plain selfish.

Racking his brain, Naruto tried to think of something helpful to say to comfort Hinata. It was obvious that she was still upset about what had happened and Naruto wanted to see her smile again.

Her gaze still turned downward, Hinata was surprised when Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder, in the exact same spot as where he had left the dirty handprint just before he had left the cavern with Kakashi. Hinata raised her eyes with shock at the close physical contact and she locked her pale silvery eyes with Naruto's ocean blue ones.

"Hinata-chan," Naruto spoke quietly but seriously, staring intently at her. "Please don't blame yourself. It wasn't your fault that Chiyo was killed."

Hinata found herself lost in the depths of his warm blue eyes. "But I… I… I f-failed…" she whispered, though less certain than she had been before. Naruto's kindness was both a blessing and a curse to her – it was so overwhelming it caused her chest to constrict whenever he tried to encourage her, but at the same time it made her feel like she was floating, like, for just a short moment in time, she was invincible so long as he believed in her.

Naruto raised a hand to quiet her timid objections. "Hinata-chan, you got Gaara back!" he exclaimed incredulously. "You helped defeat an S ranked missing nin! The mission's been a success! So tell me, how exactly have you failed? I know you're not a failure and so should you – you're a tough, kick ass kunoichi who always tries her best and never gives up or goes back on her word! Because that's her nindo, right?"

Naruto released her, smiling encouragingly at her and waiting for her reaction, though he couldn't help but wonder what had prompted that minor outburst. He wasn't exactly the type to launch into dramatic speeches. He thought about it for a moment. He supposed it was just that… seeing Hinata so downbeat after doing something so amazing felt completely wrong to him. She deserved take pride in her achievements and see herself as the great person and ninja that she was. If it took a couple of ad lib speeches and some unorthadox praise to raise her confidence then that was fine by him.

Plus it was kinda… nice, seeing her blush whenever he complimented her.

Hinata stood stock still, her eyes wide with surprise and focused on Naruto's for five seconds… ten… fifteen… Naruto's smile flickered slightly. Had he just made it worse by being so blunt and straightforward? Should he not have interfered? He was about to apologise to her and try and make things right again, but then he felt all the air forced out of his lungs as Hinata threw her arms around him in a tight embrace and buried her face in his chest with a sniffling sound.

"Hin-Hinata-chan," gasped Naruto, struggling for air as she squeezed him as tightly as she could, her thin frame at odds with the strength she was displaying. Her sniffling noises increased ever so slightly in volume as Naruto felt the front of his jacket become slightly damp, and she buried her face in deeper. "Er, would you mind… umm… letting me breathe?"

"Oh!" Hinata jumped back from him, blushing pink with her pale eyes moist. "I'm sorry, I d-didn't mean to hurt you. I just…" Hinata's blush increased in hue so that her cheeks were almost burning, but she managed to whisper, "I think I n-needed that. Thank you, Naruto-kun. You… you always know how to m-make me feel better."

"Nah, it's no problem," Naruto laughed, brushing her apologies aside. "I don't like it when people put themselves down when they haven't done anything wrong, that's all. Same way that I don't like it when people are all arrogant and think they're better than everyone else, like Sasuke and how Neji used to be."

Neji chose that moment to cough into a closed fist, startling both Naruto and Hinata. "What were saying about me just now, Naruto? I didn't quite catch that…"

Naruto laughed nervously, raising his hands pleadingly. "Aww, c'mon Neji, I didn't mean it like that. I mean, you're much cooler than you used to be now that you've taken your head out of your ass…" Naruto winced as he saw Neji's eyebrow arch upwards and hastily tried to correct himself before he got into an even deeper hole. "Er, not that you had your head in your ass before or anything, you were just a bit… uptight?"

Neji shook his head as Naruto continued to ramble on, shooting a knowing look at his younger cousin. Hinata blushed scarlet as she realised how boldly she had acted – she had just _hugged_ Naruto, in front of _everyone!_ She was so embarrassed that she half wished the ground would just open up and swallow her – she was aware that Neji already knew about her affection for the blonde haired, ramen loving shinobi, but she could hardly have made it any more obvious to the others if she had blurted it out loud.

Thankfully, it appeared as though everyone other than Neji were to be distracted in some way and not focusing in on the conversation she and Naruto had been having. Temari had moved over to help the grumbling Shikamaru prop Kakashi up, with Gaara following after his older sister, and Gai was vigorously quizzing the silver haired jonin, wanting to hear Kakashi's side of the story and discover what 'youthful exploits' he had missed. Lee was hovering over his sensei's shoulder, paying rapt attention as Kakashi briefly described the clay user that his team had faced off against, and Tenten was also listening in on Gai's interrogation of Kakashi as she leant tiredly against the valley wall, no longer worrying about hiding her fatigue. Hinata breathed out a quiet sigh of relief. It seemed that her 'secret' was safe from the others for a little while longer at least, though it was still embarrassing knowing that Sakura, Neji and Kurenai-sensei knew about her hidden feelings for the blonde boy. Not to mention the Godaime, Shizune, Shikamaru, Temari, Teuchi, Ayame, Kiba and Shino all probably at least suspecting how she felt for him.

And yet… Naruto's reaction suggested that he hadn't figured out the motive behind her embrace either. Hinata wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or disappointed by his legendary density. If he somehow discovered the depths of her feelings for him, not only would she be embarrassed beyond belief, what if he was scared off? Or what if he didn't want to talk about it and just ignored her? Just having his companionship was wonderful for her – if she selfishly prioritised her own feelings for him and then lost his friendship she would never forgive herself.

But on the other hand, if he accepted her feelings Hinata would have been the happiest girl in the whole world. And if by some miracle he actually reciprocated her affection… Hinata's heartbeat sped up just by thinking about it. If he ever told her he loved her in the same way that she cared for him she would probably explode with joy. Well, either that or faint. And she had promised herself, back in the cave, that she would confess her feelings to him. Even though it scared her – in a different way to fighting for her life against Sasori, but equally frightening nonetheless – and even though she hadn't said it out loud, she had told herself she would do it. Maybe not for a long time, maybe not until she found the right moment, but she had made a promise to herself.

Naruto was right. She wouldn't go back on her word.

At that moment Gai's team and the other ninja rejoined the small group of Hinata, Neji and Naruto. Kakashi was being held aloft by Gai rather than Shikamaru now and neither the spandex clad jonin nor the masked copy nin looked particularly thrilled by this new arrangement. Shikamaru, however, was smiling languidly as he stretched his arms out, evidently pleased that no longer had to hold Kakashi up.

Gai cleared his throat to attract everyone's attention. "Thanks to all of your youthful exploits, we have regained the Kazekage from the nefarious clutches of the Akatsuki. You should all be very proud of yourselves!" Naruto and Lee both cheered enthusiastically at his praise and even the usually stoic Neji allowed a small smile to surface. Hinata had to force back a blush as she noticed Naruto grin at her after he gave Lee a high five, but couldn't hold back a thankful smile of her own. "However," Gai warned, continuing on from where he had left off after the minor commotion of Naruto and Lee celebrating had died down, "This mission has not yet been completed. Although both Akatsuki members we encountered have been defeated, we are still very much in the enemy's territory. Booby traps similar to the ones that my team fell into could still be a threat and we cannot be certain that there are not other rogue ninja lying in wait for us. Until Kazekage-sama –" Gai nodded respectfully to Gaara, who returned his bow "– Is safely returned Suna once more, we must stay on guard!"

In answer, Lee snapped to attention and saluted, Shikamaru mumbled, "Troublesome…" under his breath and Temari took a step closer to her younger brother, as if she were silently warning any of Gaara's would be assassins that they would have to go through her first. Tenten rolled her eyes at her sensei's overly theatrical warning, but nodded her own acceptance too, though not before sharing a tired, resigned smile with Neji.

Pleased to see that all of the younger ninja were still focused on their task of returning Gaara, Gai nodded, satisfied. "Excellent! In that case, we would be honoured to escort you back to Suna, Kazekage-sama, should you so wish it!"

Gaara again calmly nodded his agreement to Gai's offer and everyone started to prepare themselves before the group began moving again. Naruto tightened his hitai-ite around his forehead, oblivious to Hinata staring at him before she caught herself and blushed.

Neji, who was watching the blonde shinobi and his cousin, was suddenly struck with an idea. Hiding his smirk from view, he called out, "Naruto, can you spare a moment please?"

Naruto glanced inquisitively at the older Hyuuga boy. "Sure, what's up?"

Neji feigned an expression of discomfort. "My back is extremely painful – I think I must have strained a muscle, and regretfully I can no longer support my cousin. Would you mind carrying her in my place?"

Hinata's face paled and she suddenly felt very lightheaded at her cousin's seemingly innocent request. _'Naruto-kun… carrying me?_' she thought, trying to quell her rising panic. _'That means that we would be… touching! For the whole way to Suna! What if I faint? What if he thinks I'm too heavy? Oh, I would die of embarrassment!'_

Unaware of Hinata's increasing anxiety, Naruto shrugged his shoulders at Neji's request. "Sure, no problem, I can do that," he agreed, finishing tying the knot of his forehead protector. "So long as Hinata-chan's ok with it." He turned questioningly to ask her permission and upon seeing the Hyuuga girl standing completely frozen with her eyes wide Naruto decided that the lack of any protest was good enough for him. "When we get back to Suna maybe you should go see Sakura-chan about your back though, I'm sure she'd know how to fix it."

"I will make sure to do that," Neji lied fluently. "I appreciate your assistance, Naruto." With a nod of thanks Neji moved to the front of the group alongside Tenten, who had watched the exchange between the two Hyuuga clan members and Naruto with interest.

"Why'd you do that, Neji?" she asked curiously, smirking slightly at witnessing his ploy. "I know that back excuse you made was bullshit and so does Hinata, so spill it."

Neji smiled knowingly. "I think it will be good for Hinata-sama's confidence to have some close contact with Naruto. I'm sure she will thank me for it later… once her shyness fades, of course."

Tenten smiled sweetly. "So it wasn't so you could carry _me_ instead?" she asked innocently. Her smile grew as she saw Neji hastily look away and mutter, "Don't be absurd, Tenten," and her smile became a small smirk as she noticed that the tips of his ears had gone very red. _'Looks like even Neji's got a dirty mind!' _she giggled inwardly. _'And he looks kinda cute when he blushes…'_

-o-o-

When he had accepted Neji's request to carry Hinata, Naruto hadn't really considered the implications that it might have. He saw it as a way to help out two of his friends at once, and he was never one to turn down an opportunity to assist an ally whenever he could. However, with Hinata pressed up against him – or more specifically Hinata's chest; Hinata's warm, soft, surprisingly ample chest – Naruto was finding it difficult to reign in his hormones. _'Just my luck to be taught by the two biggest perverts in the village,' _he thought sourly. _'They're a bad influence on me!' _

Even after travelling with Jiraiya for so long, Naruto had never experienced this sort of situation though – he had tried to keep well away from the women that the toad sage surrounded himself with. However, this meant that he found himself totally unprepared for the feelings that the contact with Hinata was giving him. Whenever she shifted position he could feel her breasts press snugly against his back and her long, silky hair was brushing up against the back of his scorched neck, sending a tingly but very much enjoyable sensation down his spine. He could feel her faint breathing too, quiet and ever so slightly uneven, as though she were worried or anxious about something, but it was relaxing too, in a calming sort of way.

In short, for the first time in his life Naruto was noticing Hinata as an attractive young woman rather than simply as a friend and this sudden change in his perception of the Hyuuga heiress had caught him completely off guard. Yes, he knew that she was a girl previously, of course, but he'd never really thought about it until now, and seeing her – not to mention _feeling_ her – in this light was a real eye opener. The only girl he had ever really had feelings for in the past was Sakura and although he had asked her out on dates before he'd left the village for his training mission he'd never seriously expected her to accept any of his offers. He knew how hung up on Sasuke she was, and didn't think anything would ever change her opinion of the dark haired, brooding Uchiha, despite what he had hoped. And even though he still liked Sakura a lot, he was willing to admit that there was absolutely zero chance of her ever allowing herself to get into a position as… _close _as this, not without her fist coming into contact with his face.

Actually, thinking about Sakura reminded Naruto that whilst he had been away one of the first things he wanted to do when he got back to Konoha was find the pink haired medic nin and ask her out on a date with him, just to see if anything had changed now that they had grown up a little. But after meeting Hinata at the gates of the village the whole idea of asking Sakura out had completely slipped his mind, he'd been having so much fun. Even when he had seen his teammate the following day he still hadn't had any thoughts of a date. He wondered if it was just because everything was in such a rush – after all, he'd only been back in Konoha for a single night before he had been assigned the mission of rescuing Gaara – but although that must have at least been a part of it he still didn't feel like it fully answered his question. Was it that he had been enjoying himself so much with Hinata that he had placed talking to her as more important than requesting a date from Sakura in his 'Things To Do List'?

Naruto shook his head like a wet dog, annoyed by his inconclusive musings. Thankfully at least he and Hinata were travelling at the back of the group that was speeding through the valley back in the direction of Suna, which meant that he didn't have to deal with the stares of any of the other ninja – he was almost certain he had seen Shikamaru smirking at him just before they had set off when Hinata had been settling herself on his back, her face as red as a tomato. He couldn't help but feel a tiny bit thankful that Hinata seemed to be finding this equally as uncomfortable – knowing she was just as embarrassed as he was, if not more so, made things a bit easier for him. Someone who could empathise with how he was feeling was something that Naruto wasn't used to, but it was comforting all the same, as it meant that he wasn't struggling alone. To Naruto, that made a big difference.

For her part, Hinata could barely imagine a situation that was so perfect and yet so embarrassing at the same time. Why had Neji forced the two of them together like this? She wasn't ready! Not for something like this! She was so close to him that she could feel his heartbeat through his jacket and the tantalising heat radiating from his strong, solid back was enough to make her feel lightheaded… but lightheaded in a good way.

Then again, although the situation she was in had taken her completely by surprise and she couldn't stop her body from faintly quivering whenever Naruto's muscular back moved against her, she tried to relax and absorb some of the warmth of his body. _'This could be the only chance to get close to Naruto-kun that I'll ever get,' _she reminded herself. _'I can't just let this moment pass me by – I'd never forgive myself!' _Taking a shaky breath, she tightened her arms slightly around him and pulled herself in closer, breathing in the earthy scent of his jacket.

The silence stretched out, becoming more and more awkward, as both of the embarrassed teenagers didn't really know what to say in a situation like this. Eventually, summoning her courage, Hinata felt the need to speak up. "Ano… Naruto-kun, are you alright?" she asked in a small, hesitant voice. "You seem a little… umm… quiet…"

"Nah, it's nothing," Naruto laughed, relieved that the girl on his back was trying to break the ice and lessen some of the tension that was surrounding the two of them. "Just doing a little thinking. Are you ok back there?"

Hinata blushed but nodded. "Y-Yes, I'm alright. I… umm… appreciate you helping me, Naruto-kun. Thank you."

"No problem," Naruto answered, trying to hide his awkwardness behind his trademark grin. "I'm happy to help. I know you'd rather have Neji carry you, but I –"

"N-No!" Hinata interrupted, her voice high pitched. Suddenly realising what she had said she continued, flustered, "Ano… I m-mean… I… I d-don't mind you carrying me. It's… umm…" She mumbled something that Naruto didn't quite hear, but sounded like it could have been 'nice' before she squeaked and blushed, burying her face into the back of his jacket.

Naruto tensed slightly as she accidentally knocked her hand against his tender, burnt neck as she hid her face from sight – not that he could see her anyway with his back to her – and he couldn't contain the small grunt of pain that forced its way through his lips. Hinata immediately picked up on his discomfort and her eyes widened when she noticed the raw, blackened flesh.

"Naruto-kun, you're hurt!" she gasped, gazing at the blistered skin with a mixture of anxiety and sympathy. Slowly, with infinite care, she traced a single finger around the edges of the burn.

Naruto shivered at her feather-soft touch but tried to make light of his charred skin and focused on jumping from one tree root to another as the shinobi in front of him reached the end of the valley, coming out into the more open surroundings. "It's not that bad, I can handle it," he answered, turning his head to look at her as best as he could. "I bet your ankle probably hurts a lot worse than this."

"But… it still looks v-very painful," Hinata whispered, the worry in her voice evident to Naruto even though she had spoken very softly. She paused, indecision gnawing away at her insides as she wondered whether or not she should say anything else, before blurting out, "I have some m-medicinal cream with me that might help it heal. Would you l-like to try it?"

"Medicinal cream?" Naruto repeated, confused. "Oh, you mean like what you gave me after fighting Kiba? That stuff was awesome! Sure, if you've got some that'd be great!"

Hinata shifted position slightly – the spiky haired ninja nearly tripped over his own feet as Hinata's chest pressed more firmly into his back – and reached into her kunai pouch. After a few seconds of rooting around to find what she was looking for, during which time Naruto tried to keep his thoughts clean, she finally produced a small wooden pot, which she handed over, blushing as her hand brushed against his. Naruto unscrewed the cap, smeared a small amount of the salve on his fingers and handed the container back to her, smiling his thanks. But as he tried to reach up to his neck he found that his arm didn't quite extend that far – both of his hands were holding Hinata up, and if he released her then she would slip off his back.

Naruto could only see three possible solutions. One: forget about the cream until they stopped for a break and try and put up with his sore neck until then. Two: ask Hinata to get off his back and fall behind the others as he applied the ointment. Or three… Naruto gulped, then shrugged slightly. What the Hell, always go with your impulses, right? "Umm… Hinata-chan? I can't reach my neck. Would you mind… err… y'know… rubbing it in for me?"

Hinata was one-hundred percent certain that if she had been standing on her own two feet, even if her ankle had been fine, her legs would have collapsed under her at that moment. Her mind, which totally froze for an instant, repeated, _'I won't faint, I won't faint, I won't faint,'_ over and over again in an effort to stay conscious. She fought the darkness hovering on the edges of her vision desperately – she couldn't pass out now, this was the sort of opportunity she dreamt about!

Hearing Hinata suck in a shocked breath and tense up against him, Naruto decided that maybe option one was better than option three after all. "Ah, sorry, I shouldn't have asked you to do that," he laughed nervously. "I'll just hold on 'til we take a break and do it then, I can wait, it's no big de–"

Naruto's apologies died in his throat as he felt something chilly and moist on his neck and the heat of the burn vanished almost instantly, replaced with a feeling of cool relief that gradually spread through his body. The muscles of his neck, which had been so tense just a moment ago, relaxed, becoming looser to the touch. Twisting his head around in surprise, Naruto saw Hinata dabbing at the scorched skin with the ointment, her face ablaze with a cherry red blush but her eyes full of kindness, compassion, pity, worry and… something else, something that Naruto didn't understand. He'd never seen anyone look at him that way before, but it made him feel like there was a big, happy balloon inflating in his chest.

As soon as she had started to tend to Naruto's burns Hinata had expected him to immediately change his mind, saying that he didn't want her to touch him after all, but Naruto let her proceed without even a murmur of protest so she continued her ministrations as tenderly as she could. The urge to let her hands roam as she rubbed the salve over Naruto's skin was extremely tempting, fuelled by her closeness to him, but she maintained her focus on the burn mark, delicately spreading the medicinal cream with the tips of her fingers and rubbing in small circles. She kept her movements as minimal as possible to avoid causing Naruto any discomfort, but although she would never have been able to admit it out loud she was also going as slowly as she could to prolong the contact, even if it was only by a mere second or two. The jolts caused by touching Naruto in such an open way were sending wonderful shivers down her body and even though the blonde boy's skin was blackened and burnt it still felt pleasantly soft and warm. She didn't want the feeling to end.

Eventually, although regrettably far too soon for Hinata's liking, she finished rubbing in the balm. As she put the small pot containing the salve back in her kunai pouch, she was surprised to see that the burn had noticably decreased in size, from covering most of the back of his neck to just a small spot above the collar of his orange and black jacket. Hinata frowned slightly, puzzled. How had the burn healed so fast? Even with the ointment it should have taken at least a few days to die down quite so much. Thinking back, she remembered that Naruto's wounds from the fight against Kiba had healed unnaturally rapidly when she had mustered the courage to give him some medicinal salve back then too.

Naruto let out a contented sigh, ending Hinata's confused chain of thought as he announced, "Wow, that feels much better, my neck was itching like crazy before! That cream of yours really is amazing! Where did you get it from?"

"Oh, I…umm… I m-made it myself," Hinata stammered, red faced. However, she couldn't help but feel just the tiniest spark of pride as Naruto grinned inquisitively at her.

"Really? You mean you made this without any help?" Seeing Hinata nod shyly, Naruto's grin became one of admiration. "I never knew you could do that! You'd make a great medic nin, Hinata-chan!"

Hinata ducked her head self-consciously, but couldn't hold back a smile at Naruto's praise. It had taken a lot of effort to find the herbal ingredients needed and perfect the formula, but her hearing his praise made it all worthwhile. She enjoyed helping others and took a small amount of satisfaction in the feeling of being useful in some way for her friends, especially Naruto.

"I'm not in the same league as Hokage-sama or Sakura-san, but I d-do know a few basic medical ninjutsu techniques," Hinata admitted, cheeks tinted red once again – her face was so flushed she felt like she hadn't stopped blushing once since Naruto had picked her up. "Hokage-sama w-wanted every squad to have at least basic healing abilities, and Kurenai-sensei said Kiba-kun or Shino-kun would be less suited to medical ninjutsu than myself."

Naruto was about to respond, but he almost tripped over a long tuft of grass. The ramen loving shinobi scowled – he hadn't been looking where he was going, having had his head turned around to talk to Hinata – and turned to face ahead. His previous irritation at nearly falling was quickly replaced by surprise at realising that the others were now quite a long way in front of him. When had that happened? He had been so involved in talking to Hinata that not only had he now almost forgotten his previous awkwardness, he hadn't even realised that he was being left behind. He grunted a little as he pushed himself harder to catch up, sprinting as fast as he could without jolting Hinata too badly and He fell into step just behind Shikamaru before reducing his speed.

Satisfied that he had now caught up to the others he craned his neck back to face Hinata once more. "Only Shizune-neechan is on the same level as Sakura-chan or Tsunade-baachan when it comes to healing, but I'm sure that with enough practice you could catch up. Everyone starts off inexperienced at first. And if Kurenai-sensei said that you were the best fit then you must have a tonne of potential and really good chakra control, right?" Seeing Hinata nod hesitantly, with her eyes filled with doubt, Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Heh, chakra control's my big weakness… you'd definitely make a better medic nin than me at very least." Hinata giggled slightly at the pouting expression on Naruto's face at admitting he had a weakness at all and hearing her amusement Naruto scowled jokingly. "Hey, you may be the better medic nin, but I'm gonna be Hokage, you got that?"

Hinata tried to stifle her laughter. "Of course, Hokage-sama," she replied as seriously as she could manage through her giggles, pretending to bow down low in deference.

Naruto cocked his head to the side thoughtfully. "Hokage-sama, huh…? Yeah, I could definitely get used to people calling me that!" The blonde haired boy puffed out his chest self-importantly, drawing further amused laughter from the girl on his back.

Suddenly Hinata's eyes widened and she went quiet abruptly, tugging urgently on Naruto's sleeve and pointing ahead. The orange clad boy was about to ask her what was wrong, but then he saw something in the distance and came to a sharp halt, skidding slightly as he dug his sandals into the ground to arrest his progress. He couldn't tell for certain at such a long way away but it looked like an entire army, probably ninja based on the speed they were moving at, were running towards them, easily outnumbering their small group of ten. Maito Gai spotted them approaching less than a second later and came to a standstill himself, signalling everyone else to do the same. Without even needing to be asked Neji immediately activated his Byakugan, scanning the oncoming mass of ninja to judge whether they were friends or foes. Everyone was silent as they waited for the Hyuuga jonin's verdict, tension gripping the group as they gazed at his impassive face, trying to gain a clue as to whether or not they were facing another fight by his expression. Naruto gritted his teeth, silently letting Hinata down from his back to stand as steadily as she could beside him and pulling out a kunai in case he needed to fight. Just in front of him he saw Temari take a step closer to Gaara and snap open her fan halfway, ready to defend her younger brother if necessary.

After a few seconds that felt like hours to Naruto, the Hyuuga jonin finally released his kekkei genkai and smiled at the group. "There is no need to be alarmed," he announced. "The hitai-ite show that the ninja approaching are Suna shinobi, not Akatsuki. We can relax now."

Naruto let out a sigh of relief. With Kakashi currently unable to fight and the rest of the squad tired and weary, another battle was hardly in their best interests. Then again, if he had a free shot on one of the Akatsuki, after what they had done to Gaara he would hardly pass up such an opportunity. It didn't matter how worn out he was; he wouldn't let anyone hurt his friends and get away with it.

As the approaching ninja came into view, Naruto could see that Neji was correct with his observations – the approaching ninja, staying in a solid formation despite their vast numbers, were now close enough to see their hitai-ite, and like the Hyuuga branch family member had said all of them had Suna symbols engraved onto them. Wait, no, not quite all of them… there was a pink haired girl near the front of the group…

Surprising everyone, Naruto yelled at the top of his voice, "HEY, SAKURA-CHAN! OVER HERE!" As if that wasn't enough to attract her attention he began waving his hands in the air and jumping up and down on the spot, not stopping until Sakura started heading towards him.

The ninja that had been running alongside Sakura, a brown haired girl with dark eyes, suddenly squealed loudly as she spotted Gaara in amongst the crowd. Almost as one, the rest of the crowd of Suna ninja gasped, before rushing forward all at once, all thoughts of remaining in formation and staying organised vanishing at the sight of their missing Kazekage. First to reach the stunned Gaara was Kankuro, who wrapped him in a big bear hug and shouted his name hoarsely, pulling Temari in to join them in a family embrace. As the two of them released the bemused Gaara, laughing delightedly together, the Kazekage was nearly knocked off his feet by the brown haired girl throwing her arms around him and just a second or two later he was swamped by Suna ninja wanting to pat him on the back or congratulate him or even to see if they weren't dreaming and that he was really there.

Naruto grinned as the Suna ninja milled around Gaara, cheering and chanting his name ecstatically. There was no doubt about it; Gaara finally had his own precious people that cared about him. Looking around him at the scenes of jubilation taking place Naruto laughed delightedly at the reception his friend was receiving and began cheering and clapping himself. After everything that Gaara had been through, a little applause was the least that he deserved.

**Author's Notes: **Hello everyone, here's the next juicy, juicy segment of the story! Another long one, and probably the most character interaction I've ever fitted into a single chapter, but I kinda liked the way that it flowed, especially the hints of romance – fluff is just fun to write! Don't be expecting massive confessions or anything like that in the near future though – yes, I've certainly progressed the romance in this chapter, but I'll still be taking it slow. Also, sorry if I pissed anyone off by leaving the last two chapters on such big cliffhangers, but at least this one is more conclusive… heh, am I forgiven now? In answer to the review from Anzer'ke I realise that there is a lot of speaking in the fight scenes I write, but honestly there's a lot of talking in the canon fights too. I agree it's not exactly true to real life 'fights to the death,' but I would argue that it does fit into the way that Naruto fights are written in canon, which is what I'm trying to base my own writing style on. Plus it's a good way of slotting in extra character development, which is important to me – otherwise the fights are just gonna be endless action and there are plenty more fight scenes planned out for the future that I want to fit some vital interaction into. Yeah, I agree that they aren't the greatest reasons, sorry, but to me, and hopefully the rest of you, it adds more 'drama' to the fights – Sasori's death in the last chapter wouldn't have been quite so emotionally charged if he had been completely silent throughout the entirety of the fight with Chiyo and Hinata, right? Something I also wanted to clear up, because I forgot to in the Author's Notes of the last chapter, were the differences in the fight against Sasori in canon and in this fanfic. In canon, of course, both Chiyo and Sakura survived the fight, so does that mean Sakura is noticeably stronger than Hinata in this story? My answer is no, because it's important to remember that in canon Sakura had the antidote to Sasori's poison, meaning that even if she got hit by one of Sasori's attacks she was still able to fight. The events in my story mean that Hinata and Chiyo don't have this luxury – if one of them gets even a scratch then that's it, they're dead. Without the antidote Sakura would have definitely died, just like Hinata would have died without Chiyo's intervention. Perhaps Sakura is slightly stronger when you consider that she had one of the Sannin as her personal tutor, but then again Hinata has a legendary kekkei genkai and a unique family fighting style – either way, the difference in power between the two of them is meant to be minimal. It's only really Hinata's confidence issues that hold her back, after all, and I'm slowly but surely trying to address them in this story; her recovery from Chiyo's death and her conversation with Gaara, for instance, were meant to show some of her newfound confidence. Oh, and the small mention of Matsuri was encouraged along by the reviewer Fairo Neko – like I said in the Author's Notes section of Chapter Two, I'm happy to at least consider any ideas from readers, providing it adds something to the story, doesn't clash with my own personal beliefs (e.g. I'm not gonna start turning this into a NaruSaku fanfiction just because a reviewer wants me to!) and doesn't get in the way of events I've already planned out for the future. A little moment like this fits in fine for me. Ok, that's everything, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please stand by your computers for the next instalment! Bye!

**List of Jutsu:**

'**Hakke Hasangeki' = 'Eight Divination Signs Destructive Mountain Fist'**

'**Jibaku Bunshin' = 'Self-Destructing Clone Technique'**

**Joke Corner:**** I used to work in a helium balloon factory, but I decided to quit after an argument with my boss – I refuse to be spoken to in that tone.**


	13. Home is Where the Heart is

Chapter Thirteen: Home is Where the Heart is

Cursing and coughing, Deidara's head broke through the surface of the rubble caused by the Jibaku Bunshin's explosion. Kicking at the mound of earth with his feet he eventually managed to break free and rose to his feet, panting heavily.He was covered in dust and dirt, with his Akatsuki uniform now in barely recognisable tatters, but he couldn't restrain the smirk on his face as he saw that there was no sign of the ninja that had been pursuing him.

'_Hah, fools! Looks like my artwork did the trick, yeah!'_ he thought triumphantly, shaking his head to get some of the dirt out of his hair._ 'Those Konoha bastards might have escaped, but it still made a great diversion! Now to get back to the cave and find Sasori-danna.'_

As he jumped from one tree root to another, Deidara tried to ignore the stumps where his arms used to be despite the agonising pain, made even worse by the dust and dirt that had settled on the wound. He hoped that Sasori would be done with his own fight – he wouldn't be much help to the Suna missing nin in his current state – but knowing the puppet master, Deidara wasn't overly worried about needing to fight. _'Sasori-danna is always so impatient… I bet he won ages ago and he'll probably moan at me again for taking too long.'_ The pony tailed ninja shook his head, frowning. _'He doesn't get it at all. My artwork is all about putting on a show, yeah! I can't do that in just a few minutes, the same way he does with his ancient finger puppets! My creations must be appreciated… before the moment of perfection captured by the explosion!'_

As he came into sight to the cave, however, Deidara could see straight away that something was wrong. The roof seemed to have completely caved in and the walls were barely standing. In addition, if he squinted closely he could just about make out the bodies of what looked like multiple puppets strewn haphazardly across the floor of the cavern. The missing Iwa nin's eyes widened – the sheer amount of wooden creations surely meant that the puppet master had surely used** Akahigi: Hyakki no Souen,** his most powerful technique. Deidara furrowed his brows, puzzled. Had Sasori seriously been forced to use his last resort attack against a pitiful old lady and a weak looking teenage girl? Deidara would have scoffed at the mere thought just a few minutes ago, but now he wasn't so sure. After all, the state of the cavern suggested that an absolutely huge battle had taken place; maybe the two kunoichi had been tougher than they looked.

As he got closer, Deidara could see that Sasori's puppets were lying lifeless and he couldn't make out any sign of their master. The missing Iwa nin's frown deepened. Did that mean Sasori had actually lost? The idea of his Akatsuki partner being defeated seemed next to impossible, but Deidara couldn't help but wonder… Grimacing, he increased his pace.

Finally he reached the cave's entrance, now surrounded by rocky debris. Deidara paused warily for a moment, studying the walls to make sure that they wouldn't collapse on top of him if he tried to enter, but suddenly heard a high pitched voice cheering with what sounded like triumph from inside. The clay user quickly pressed himself against the wall and shrank into the shadows to conceal himself from view, waiting to hear whether it was a friend or foe that had shouted out.

"Zetsu-sama! Zetsu-sama! I got it! I got the ring! Does this mean I can be a part of the Akatsuki too?"

Listening closely, Deidara heard what sounded like an exasperated growl. "It's not that simple, you know that."

The first person that had spoken let out a disappointed whine, which sounded almost childish. Deidara had to hold back an irritated grunt. This guy's voice was _really _getting on his nerves. "Aww, but why not? There's an opening now, right?"

"Yes, but –" Zetsu stopped mid sentence, holding up a hand to signal the other man not to speak either, and listened closely. His plant like appendages cracked open, revealing his split face, and his golden eyes roamed the cave suspiciously. After a few seconds of searching he relaxed. "I know you're there, Deidara. You can come out now."

Grumbling, Deidara emerged from his hiding place. "I still don't get how you do that, Zetsu. It's damn creepy …" Seeing the other person in the cave, a tall, dark haired man dressed entirely in black, save for an orange mask with a spiral pattern covering his face, Deidara scowled and scrutinized him thoroughly. "Who's the joker?" he asked, quirking an eyebrow at Zetsu questioningly.

Before Zetsu could speak the masked man dashed forward to introduce himself. "Hi there, I'm Tobi! You must be Deidara-senpai, right? I'm really happy to meet you!" He held out a hand for Deidara to shake, not noticing the fluttering sleeves of Deidara's torn Akatsuki robes.

A vein bulged on the clay user's forehead. "Is your mask covering your eyes or something? I can't exactly shake your hand right now, yeah," answered Deidara through gritted teeth. Was this Tobi guy _trying_ to annoy him, or was he really this dumb?

Tobi cocked his head to the side thoughtfully. "How about a high five instead?"

Seeing Deidara turn bright red and looking likely to burst a blood vessel, Zetsu quickly intervened. "Now that the introductions are out of the way, can we get back to more important business? Deidara, what happened in the cave to disrupt the sealing jutsu?"

Shooting one final dirty look at Tobi, who merely shrugged his shoulders innocently, Deidara snorted. "You saw it for yourself, yeah. Some blonde kid broke in and destroyed the statue."

Zetsu growled. "I meant what happened after that?"

Deidara sighed impatiently. "There were five other ninja backing the blonde kid up, yeah. I drew four of them away from the cave with a clay clone of the Jinchuuriki brat, but one of the ninja that followed me was Hatake Kakashi and he hit me with some long range doujutsu attack. In the end I had to blow up the clone and fake my own death to escape. I dunno what happened back here though. Where the Hell's Sasori-danna, yeah?"

Zetsu pointed to the corner of the cave. Deidara's gaze followed his gesture and he suddenly noticed a mop of red hair lying alongside two wooden puppets and an elderly, grey haired woman. Sasori's body was completely immobile and as Deidara stepped in for a closer look he could see that the puppet master's limbs and torso had been completely crushed.

"So… he's dead?" Deidara asked cautiously, turning back to face Zetsu. The inhuman Akatsuki member nodded wordlessly.

Deidara shook his head, snorting. "He must have been overconfident. Fat lot of good all his talk of 'eternal beauty' did for him, yeah. There's nothing left for the future when you're dead." The explosives expert took one last look at his Akatsuki partner's body, a small, slightly wistful smile on his face. "Still… at least he died in a way befitting an artist. You've gotta respect a guy who lives and dies with his art, yeah."

There was a brief moment of silence as both Deidara and Zetsu allowed Sasori's death to sink in, before Tobi broke the silence. "So, Zetsu-sama," the masked man spoke up conversationally, nudging Sasori's body with a foot, "Are you gonna eat him now?"

"He's made of wood," grunted Zetsu dismissively, as Deidara again scowled at Tobi's lack of subtlety. "And besides, we have more important matters to focus on. Firstly we must clear up this cave. Leave no trace that any Akatsuki business has ever taken place here. That can be your first new task for our organisation, Tobi."

"Really?" Tobi asked eagerly. "Ok! I promise I won't let you down, Zetsu-sama!" With that he jammed Sasori's Akatsuki ring on his finger enthusiastically and began scurrying around the cave, picking up each of Sasori's puppets and gathering them in a big pile alongside the collapsed sealing statue.

Deidara stared at Zetsu slack jawed. "What the Hell are you thinking letting a fool like him into the Akatsuki, Zetsu?" he asked incredulously, gesturing at Tobi, who had started humming a happy tune as he went about his task of piling all of Sasori's wooden creations together. "The guy's a complete idiot!"

Zetsu stared impassively back at the pony tailed man, who shifted uncomfortably under the missing Grass nin's cold gaze. "Leader-sama has agreed that he be accepted into our organisation," the plant-like man answered, his golden eyes fixed on Deidara's blue ones. "He has certain… skills… that are useful to us. And he will replace Sasori as your partner from now on. Is that understood?"

Deidara gawped open mouthed at Zetsu, then turned to look at Tobi, who had just tripped over one of the immobile puppets, causing him to drop all of the marionettes he had been carrying. "_Me? _Partnered with _him? _This has to be some sort of joke, yeah…" the explosives expert muttered as Tobi began scrambling to pick up all the wooden creations he had just dropped.

"Cheer up, Deidara-senpai!" said Tobi cheerfully, overhearing Deidara's grumbling. "I'm a really nice guy – I don't bite! In fact, most people say I'm pretty 'armless!"

Enraged, Deidara whirled around to face Zetsu. "Can I kill him? Can I _please_ kill him?"

Zetsu smiled humourlessly and shrugged his shoulders. "Leader-sama wouldn't be too happy if you did. If you want to discuss it with him, feel free."

Despite his anger, Deidara couldn't quite suppress a nervous shiver. He had heard rumours about the Akatsuki leader's wrath; unspeakable rumours. People that messed with him ended up dead. Very, very dead. "Y'know what, on second thoughts I think I'll be fine working with Tobi."

Zetsu smirked slightly at the subdued reaction of the proud clay user, just as Tobi unceremoniously threw Sasori's own body into the pile and shouted out, "Zetsu-sama! I'm done with the puppets! Should I grab the old lady too, or am I done?"

"Don't bother with her," Zetsu grunted, not even bothering to face the lifeless Suna kunoichi. "Just get rid of the puppets and the statue."

Deidara quirked an eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'get rid of them,' yeah?" the missing Iwa nin asked quizzically.

The barest hint of a smile twisted across the black half of Zetsu's lips for a brief second, making his face seem lopsided. "Watch and you'll see."

Puzzled, Deidara scrutinized the pile of discarded puppets and fragments of statue carefully. Then his eyes widened as some of the smaller pieces of rubble began to skitter across the cave floor, closer to the large mound. Soon larger pieces of stone began moving into the centre of the pile too, and Deidara could feel a slight breeze on his face, as if the air was being sucked into the heap of debris too.

Deidara was about to ask what the Hell was going on, but suddenly the entire mound of puppets and rock seemed to implode in on itself, being sucked inward by some unseen force. It was like watching the technique Kakashi had used to tear off Deidara's arm, but on a huge scale. Within seconds all the contents of the pile, which had easily been a few metres wide and taller than Tobi by at least a head, had flickered out of existence.

"There! All gone!" said Tobi proudly, hands on hips.

"See? Tobi's a good kid," said Zetsu's white half smugly. The plant-like man's black half remained silent, surveying the area that Tobi had cleared with approval. "Now, however, it would be best if we left the cave. There was a large force of Suna ninja approaching, and we have nothing to gain by engaging with them. You shall receive new instructions from Leader-sama at our next meeting – there is much to discuss."

With that, Zetsu closed the plant-like appendages on the sides of his head and vanished into the floor like a ghost, leaving no trace behind. Huffing with annoyance, though secretly hoping that Zetsu didn't mean that he was going to be blamed by Leader-sama for the failed extraction process, Deidara walked over to Tobi.

"You heard the plant guy, yeah," he said irritably. "Let's move it. We've got a long walk ahead of us."

Tobi chuckled. "You don't need to walk Deidara-senpai! Not when you've got me! I can get you anywhere in the blink of an eye!"

The air around Tobi's eyehole shimmered as he began to perform the same technique that he had used to transport the rubble. Deidara eyed the expanding vortex warily.

"Where exactly did you send that rubble, yeah?" he asked warily, stepping forward towards Tobi cautiously.

Tobi shrugged nonchalantly. "Somewhere."

Deidara was hardly reassured. "Is this teleportation thing of yours even safe?"

Tobi took hold of Deidara's shoulder and steered him to the edge of the vortex he had created. "Deidara-senpai, you know that I won't let anything bad happen to you," he said reproachfully, sounding like a kicked puppy. "You have to trust me. We're working together now, remember?"

Deidara scowled at the reminder, but gave in grudgingly. "Ok, fine. Let's go… partner."

"That's the way to think!" said Tobi encouragingly. "Partners. Pals. Comrades." He paused for a moment, seeing Deidara nod and seeming to warm up to the idea of working with the masked man before adding casually, "Brothers in arms!"

There was a moment of silence as Deidara tried to articulate his fury into words. Then, with a roar of rage, the missing Iwa nin leapt at his new partner, swearing angrily about how he was going to shove explosive clay down the masked man's eye socket. But before he could throttle the newest Akatsuki member with his feet, as he had intended, the vortex took hold of him and dragged him away. Leaving behind a string of foul curses the blonde haired Akatsuki ninja vanished into the rift.

Tobi tutted. "Artists! So highly strung!" Then he too disappeared into the vortex, leaving the sunlit cave behind him.

-o-o-

Naruto scowled, disgruntled, as a hoard of teenaged Suna kunoichi barged him out of the way to try and get closer to Gaara. Hearing them cooing about how 'cool' and 'strong' their Kazekage was reminded him forcibly of Uchiha Sasuke's many fangirls back at the Academy. However, he couldn't suppress a small snigger at seeing Temari, Kankuro and a brown haired girl attempting to force the squealing girls back, acting like the bodyguards of Suna's leader. Who knew that Gaara would be such a hit with the ladies?

The red haired Kazekage was barely visible in the sea of excited girls – in fact, looking around, Naruto realised that he had lost sight of the rest of his team in the huge crowd as well – but the orange clad shinobi was glad that he wasn't in Gaara's near vicinity. Suna's leader wasn't exactly keen on physical contact unless it was unavoidable and although Naruto couldn't see Gaara's glare, he could certainly feel it – the singed hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end, and he could have sworn the temperature had just dropped by a few degrees.

As Gaara grunted testily at the actions of one particularly zealous girl, who tried to grab his arm and pull him towards her before being forced back by an irate Temari's fan, Naruto wisely decided to make himself scarce. If Gaara didn't lose his temper, it seemed an absolute certainty that either his sister or the other girl that was helping her prevent Gaara from being swamped by his own subordinates would quite literally explode.

Then again, just before he slipped away to try and search for Sakura and Hinata to find out what they were supposed to be doing, Naruto noticed that at very least Kankuro seemed to be enjoying himself. He was smirking openly at his younger brother and wiggling his eyebrows at him in between blocking off the repeated advances of several of Gaara's female fans. He seemed to be enjoying his younger brother's sudden popularity with the women of Suna far more than Gaara himself, who was glowering darkly at the puppet user.

For her part, Hinata felt like she was in someone else's dream as she watched the countless jubilant Suna ninja milling around as though they were in a carnival, rather than outside of their own village in potentially hostile territory. It was rather disconcerting to be with her team at one moment, focused on an important mission, before being suddenly surrounded on every side by celebrating foreign shinobi in what seemed like the blink of an eye.

However, seeing everyone so happy and united and hearing the cheers, particularly Naruto's, which were amongst the loudest of all and had started the others off in a chain reaction, made her smile. It wasn't often that two villages saw eye to eye, even in alliances – Suna's betrayal in the Chuunin Exams back when she had been a genin showed that in the ninja world trust and friendship were rare commodities indeed. Seeing these values so openly on display right now was certainly surprising, but it was a welcome surprise nonetheless and it made her feel proud to be a Konoha kunoichi.

As weaved in and out of the ecstatic Suna shinobi, Hinata tried to find someone she knew, but at first she couldn't see anyone. She briefly considered using her Byakugan to try and relocate the rest of her squad, but then out of the corner of her eye she noticed Sakura's pink hair in the crowd and tried to simultaneously manoeuvre her way through the crowd of ninja to reach her and avoid putting any unnecessary pressure on her ankle.

Noticing the Hyuuga heiress, Sakura waved her over. "Hinata!" she shouted, trying to make herself heard over the loud cheers and pushing her way past a group of particularly enthusiastic Suna kunoichi who all seemed to be waxing lyrical about Gaara. "This is crazy, isn't it? And to think I thought Naruto was loud!"

Hinata nodded, slightly intimidated by the large crowd surrounding her. "Sakura-san, what's g-going on? Why are all these Suna shinobi here?"

Sakura laughed at Hinata's confusion, then scowled as she was almost knocked over by a burly Suna shinobi going around hugging what seemed to be every ninja in the whole crowd. "Watch where you're going, jerk!" she yelled angrily at his departing back, waving a furious fist at him. "You could hurt someone like that!" Rolling her eyes with frustration as the man continued on his way, clearly not hearing her annoyed shout, she muttered darkly under her breath before turning back to Hinata.

"Sorry about that, Hinata, where was I? Oh, yeah – everyone here volunteered! After I healed him up, Kankuro-san wanted to form a rescue squad for Gaara-sama, but I think even he was shocked by how many people requested to come on this mission. We've been going flat out for most of the time too – this is the first proper break we've had!"

Sakura wiped sweat from her forehead as she spoke, pulling Hinata by the arm to the edge of the group where the cheering was less noisy. "Anyway, you've heard what happened to me – now it's your turn! How did you get Gaara-sama back? Did you have to face any Akatsuki members?" Pausing momentarily, the pink haired medic nin smirked slightly before asking innocently, "Anything interesting happen between you and Naruto?"

Hinata's bright red blush was all the answer Sakura needed, but she waited patiently for the shy Hyuuga girl to speak up first. "Ano… the Akatsuki w-were trying to extract the chakra of a Bijuu from inside of him, but we got there on time to disrupt the process – if they had succeeded, Gaara-sama would have died. We had to f-fight to get Gaara-sama back, but Neji-niisan's team were seperated from us and the Akatsuki members divided the rest of us up too. They used some sort of clone of Gaara-sama to lure Naruto-kun, Shikamaru-san, Temari-san and Kakashi-sensei away. Even with my Byakugan I c-couldn't tell the difference between the real Gaara-sama and the copy, so we were forced to split up. I w-was together with Chiyo-baasama to face the second Akatsuki member, who was guarding the real Gaara-sama."

Hinata hesitated slightly as she mentioned Chiyo's name, but although she felt a pang of sadness on her heartstrings she didn't feel the same burning guilt and self-accusation that she had before. Naruto's words had soothed her enough so that she no longer felt personally at fault for the aged Suna ninja's sacrifice. She still deeply wished that she hadn't need saving, but rather than cry at her weakness she could hear Naruto's voice resonating inside her, encouraging her to make an effort to become even stronger and try even harder next time.

"And?" Sakura prompted, waiting impatiently for Hinata to continue. "C'mon, I'm dying to hear more! The guy you were facing was the one who used the poison on Kankuro-san, right?"

"Y-Yes, that's right," Hinata nodded, subconsciously rubbing her neck as she remembered the toxic gas that she had so nearly inhaled. "It was a very difficult fight. Gaara-sama woke up and was able to defeat him, but Chiyo-baasama… Chiyo-baasama was killed."

Hinata felt the faintest tinge of pride at managing to tell Sakura about Chiyo's death without her usual stutter. Saying it out loud to Sakura was almost like an admission to herself at the same time and the small, guilty knot of tension at the pit of her stomach, which had lessened since Naruto had given her his encouragement and support, finally released itself entirely. It felt like a huge weight had been taken from her shoulders.

The pink haired medic nin's eyes went wide at Hinata's revelation. "You mean… you saw it?" she whispered, shocked. "You saw her… die? How did it happen?"

"She was stabbed," Hinata murmured sadly, remembering the vivid details of the cave; Chiyo's blood, the puppets collapsing alongside her, as if their master's own strings had been severed too and, most of all, the calm, accepting expression on Chiyo's face as she had gracefully fallen, as though she was ending her life on her own terms. Even though she must have been in terrible pain before she died, in the end her love for Sasori and her resolved regrets had made her final moments peaceful.

Hinata snapped out of her reverie as Sakura slowly shook her head. "I can't believe she's gone… I mean, when I saw her leaving Suna with the rest of you I never thought that this would happen. She seemed so real back then, and so worldly… as if she had lived forever… but now…" She lapsed into silence, biting her lip.

Hinata nodded forlornly, reflecting on the feeling of loss that she felt without Chiyo. Even though she had only known the village elder for a few days it was like a big hole had suddenly appeared in her heart where the kind, elderly Suna kunoichi had once been. She was about to reply, but then, all of a sudden, she remembered what Sasori had told her just before his death.

"Oh! Ano, Sakura-san… I just remembered… there's m-more…" she said softly, breaking Sakura's own chain of thought. "After Gaara-sama managed to crush his body, Sasori told me something important before he died."

"Huh?" Sakura frowned quizzically. "Important in what way?"

"It… it w-was about Orochimaru."

Sakura's jaw dropped, but before she could say anything Hinata heard a voice right behind her exclaim loudly, "Finally, there you guys are! I've been looking everywhere for you, Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan. This crowd is huge!"

Hinata jumped at how close the voice was, but she recognised it immediately. "Oh, Naruto-kun," she squeaked, turning quickly to face the blonde haired boy and blushing heavily when she saw that he was only inches away from her face. Their noses were almost brushing against each other they were so close, but Naruto didn't seem phased at all, as usual. "S-Sorry, I… I didn't know you were there…"

"Nah, it's no problem," Naruto laughed, as Hinata shuffled back slightly to put some space between them, face flushed. "Must be my amazing ninja stealth skills!"

Seeing Hinata's cheeks redden further as she hesitantly nodded her agreement, Naruto idly wondered about her blush – he couldn't figure it out at all, no matter how long he stared. Studying her face in closer detail, he noticed that her flushed skin seemed to contrast with her silvery eyes and dark blue hair, making her stand out against the slowly setting sun behind her, but before his thoughts could progress any further a fist came down hard on top of his head and Sakura's voice yelled, "Naruto, shut up! Hinata was just about to say something about Orochimaru before you butted in!"

"Oww, Sakura-chan, that really hurt," whined Naruto, his face scrunched up. "You could have at least said 'hi' before hitting m– wait, what was that about Orochimaru?"

Seeing both Naruto and Sakura turn their attention back to her made Hinata feel a little uncomfortable – she had to force herself not to push her index fingers together in her usual nervous habit – but she fought back her nerves and managed to stutter, "Ano… before Sasori d-died, he said… he said that he had a spy in Orochimaru's network. He was planning on meeting his s-source in the Hidden Grass Village in… umm… eleven… days… time…"

Hinata's voice trailed off anxiously towards the end, seeing the shocked expressions on the faces of both Naruto and Sakura. Had she said something wrong? Did they think she was lying?

"That means… that means that we have a chance…" Sakura whispered faintly. "We have a chance to find him… to find Sasuke-kun!" Taking a step closer, the pink haired girl clasped hold of Hinata's hands with her own and smiled dazzlingly. "Hinata, I can't thank you enough," she whispered, her jade green eyes bright. "Thank you _so_ much!"

Hinata released one of her hands from Sakura's grip and hesitantly patted the emotional girl on the shoulder. The medic nin whispered another, "Thank you," before smiling tremulously and giving Hinata's other hand a quick squeeze.

But Hinata barely heard the second part of Sakura's grateful response, as she was looking over the pink haired girl's shoulder and had her eyes fixed on Naruto, who hadn't moved a muscle since she had revealed what Sasori had told her. His face was still frozen in the same stunned expression as before and his eyes were swimming with a mixture of emotions.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, worried that he was struggling to take it all in. "Are you… ok?"

Naruto blinked, coming back to his senses, and shook his head to clear his thought. His mind was whirling uncontrollably at what Hinata had just revealed. As he saw the confused expression on her face at his lack of reaction, Naruto grinned and let the happiness of the news she had revealed just wash over him. He began to chuckle joyfully and as he saw Hinata smile with relief he broke into fully fledged laughter. Right now, he felt like everything couldn't possibly be any better. He was surrounded by friends, Gaara was ok, the Akatsuki had taken a serious beating and he was a step closer to finding Sasuke. It felt like the whole world was smiling with him.

His laughter subsiding for a moment, Naruto looked over at Hinata, who had been released by Sakura and was gazing at him confused but evidently happy to see him in such high spirits. He grinned as widely as he could and exclaimed, "Alright! Hinata-chan, you really are incredible! Thanks to you, I'm gonna get Sasuke back! There's no way I'm gonna let him get away this time!"

Grinning like an idiot, Naruto threw his hands into the air, laughing and cheering in equal measure. Sakura smiled and shook her head in mock exasperation at her blond teammates antics, in too good a mood to chastise him, and Hinata giggled at his wild exuberance.

It was at that moment Gaara growled, _"Enough!"_ in a tone that left no room for argument. His voice hadn't been particularly loud, but Naruto let out a frightened, "Eep!" and quickly closed his mouth, not wanting to further irritate the Kazekage, and the noise of the clamouring crowd quickly died down.

Surveying the suddenly subdued group of ninja, Gaara let out an annoyed sigh. "Though I am touched by your reaction to my return, we have more important matters to which we must attend. In the rescue attempt the Suna village elder Chiyo-baasama died today and we must recognise her sacrifice."

Many of the ninja in the crowd had been fidgeting and murmuring despite Gaara's call for order, but at hearing one of their comrades had perished they bowed their heads as a sign of respect. Apart from the light breeze rustling the grass it was almost silent, as if even nature had muted itself out of courtesy.

"Kazekage-sama," a reedy voice spoke up, breaking the silence. As Gaara raised an eyebrow inquisitively, an elderly man with a thick, white beard stepped forward, his squinted eyes downcast. "I realise that your safety is of primary concern right now, but may I request that we retrieve my sister's body? You may go on ahead if you wish – I just wish to see her again, for one last time…"

Gaara thought for a moment, weighing up the risk of remaining in enemy territory, before voicing his opinion of the situation. "You need not fear that Chiyo-baasama will be left behind – her body contains many secrets of our village's puppetry techniques that must be protected, as does the body of Sasori which must also be disposed of, and of greater importance is that she deserves a fitting burial back in Suna for her long years of service. However, I believe it would be best if we sent a group back to retrieve her body – a lone ninja could easily be picked off by any Akatsuki members still in the area."

"Does that mean that you will permit me to lead a small squad to fetch her body, Kazekage-sama?" asked Ebizou hopefully.

The barest hint of a smirk flitted across Gaara's face. "My apologies, Ebizou-jiisama, but at your age I believe it would be for the best if you remained with the group. In your place I will assign the task of recovering her body and all destroying her puppets and Sasori's corpse to these three."

The red haired Kazekage gestured towards a trio of the loudest Suna kunoichi that had been harassing him earlier. The three of them had been whispering and giggling amongst themselves just moments earlier, as soon as the silence in respect for Chiyo's death had ended, but Gaara's words quickly caught their attention.

"W-Wait, what?" one of the girls asked, a panicked edge to her voice. "We can't go into Akatsuki territory on our own!"

Gaara's dark rimmed eyes narrowed a fraction. "We are still danger from an Akatsuki attack even as we speak," he said in a low monotone. "Consider this a mission assigned by your Kazekage."

The three kunoichi opened their mouths to argue further, but upon seeing Gaara's unfaltering gaze they thought better of it, instead bowing low to their leader and running the short distance back to the cave. All of them seemed very twitchy, jumping at even the slightest noises and looking around nervously as if an Akatsuki member was lying in wait for them behind every tree or bush. Matsuri stuck her tongue out at the girls as they left the rest of the group, not caring if she was acting immaturely, and judging by the expression on her face Temari looked as though she was struggling not to break out into the same response.

Realising that they would have to wait until the girls came back before they could leave, most of the Suna shinobi took the chance to take a seat and relax, drinking from their canteens and talking to each other light-heartedly – though not so loud as to risk disturbing their Kazekage again. Seeing some of the other ninja sitting down, Hinata settled down on the grass herself, rubbing her sore ankle. She hadn't wanted to appear weak in front everyone else, but seeing plenty of other people resting gave her an excuse to relieve the pressure on her foot.

Noticing the Hyuuga girl's discomfort, Sakura frowned and squatted down alongside her. "Hinata, what happened to your ankle? It looks very swollen, maybe even sprained."

"Oh, I got this in the battle against Sasori, but it isn't too bad, really. I'll be fine," Hinata answered, not wanting to exaggerate either her role in the fight or her relatively minor injury and a little surprised that Sakura had even noticed – both the swelling and the pain had lessened slightly after Naruto had carried her. She didn't want to make a big fuss such a minor injury; after all that everyone had been through to get Gaara back it seemed so insignificant to have anyone else worry about it.

Sakura ran a critical eye over the bruising and Naruto peered over his teammate's shoulder, concern apparent in his cerulean eyes. "Hmm," the pink haired medic nin muttered thoughtfully, lightly touching Hinata's ankle and noticing the Hyuuga heiress wince slightly at her touch. "I don't think it's sprained, but you definitely shouldn't be walking on it. It's not a bad thing to admit you're in pain, Hinata. I can fix that up in no time at all."

Hinata was about to protest that her injury wasn't important enough for Sakura to waste her energy on, but before she had any say in the matter Sakura shrouded her hands with chakra and positioned them over the Hyuuga girl's ankle. Hinata felt a warm, tingly sensation on her ankle joint, a little like getting pins-and-needles, before the mild itching subsided to be replaced by a dull numbness. The soreness that had been present only moments ago had completely vanished.

After a few more seconds Sakura withdrew her hands, satisfied. "Is that ok now, Hinata?"

Getting back to her feet a little uncertainly, Hinata shifted her weight experimentally to her left side. Taking a few tentative steps and feeling no adverse reaction, she smiled gratefully. "Oh, yes, this is much better, my ankle doesn't ache at all now. Thank you for healing me, Sakura-san. I know you d-didn't have to, but I appreciate it very m-much."

Sakura smiled at the praise of her medical skills. "It's no problem at all Hinata. Healing people is what I've been trained for, and knowing that I'm doing something for the mission at last is a lot better than sitting back at the hospital twiddling my thumbs. I was going crazy doing nothing in there! But you should have said something earlier – like I said, it's not a problem for me. You know that, right?"

Hinata nodded meekly at Sakura's mild scolding. The pink haired medic nin was right; she didn't need to hide her weaknesses when she was with friends. But Sakura's talk about her feeling of helplessness had struck a chord with the Hyuuga girl too. Back when she had first become a genin she had made many mistakes on her earlier missions, which often caused her to lose her confidence and make even more errors, and whenever she had failed to measure up to the standards set by Neji or her younger sister in Jyuuken training at the Hyuuga complex she had felt every bit as weak as her family believed her to be. But worst of all had been when Kiba, Neji and Naruto had gone off on the mission to bring back Sasuke – she had almost worried herself to death when they had been gone and when she had heard that they had all returned with various injuries she had felt awful about how little she could do to help.

Hinata's memories were disrupted by a high pitched voice shouting out, "Kazekage-sama! Kazekage-sama!" Hinata looked up to see that the three girls sent back to the cave were running towards them, with one of them holding Chiyo's body, but they all seemed panic-stricken for some reason, their faces white with fear.

Gaara raised an eyebrow at their obvious fear as they ran up to him, flustered and short of breath. "What has happened?" the Kazekage asked bluntly, not wasting any time.

One of the girls bowed and took a shaky breath before speaking as calmly as she could manage. "We entered the cave and retrieved Chiyo-baasama's body as you asked, Kazekage-sama, but… all of the puppets and Sasori's body had completely vanished. We searched the cavern thoroughly, but there was nothing there at all. The cave was totally empty."

Gaara frowned, unnerved by this new development. One of the other girls spoke up, her voice quivering. "If Sasori's body w-wasn't there, then could that mean… he's s-still alive?"

There were several shouts of alarm from the Suna ninja in the crowd, but Gaara waved away their agitation with an immediate shake of his head. "Impossible, I witnessed his death. I am certain that he could not have survived." Noticing some of his audience relaxing, Gaara raised a hand to keep their attention. "However, the alternative is no less dangerous. Sasori and the puppets have been removed within the short amount of time that the cave has been unoccupied. In all likelihood, this means that they must have been cleared by other Akatsuki members in the area."

Suddenly the mood of the assembled ninja became nervous and restless, the previous carnival atmosphere completely forgotten. A low, anxious muttering started up and several of the assembled ninja began to peer over their shoulders uneasily. Noticing the shift in the atmosphere of the group, Gaara decided to impose his authority in order to keep everyone calm.

"You four!" he barked, pointing at a group of Suna chuunin authoritatively. "Scout our route ahead for any sign of traps or possible Akatsuki interference. If you find anything suspicious, report back straight away and do not engage. Is that understood?"

The four ninja he had picked out blinked with surprise at the unexpected commands, but quickly snapped to attention, bowing and vanishing in a swirl of dust. Satisfied, Gaara turned his attention back to the three returned kunoichi. "The three of you will be given the task of transporting Chiyo-baasama's body back to Suna. Be sure to guard it well."

Seeing the girls nod, albeit a little hesitantly, Gaara shifted to face the rest of the assembled shinobi. "Everyone else, stay cautious but do not panic unnecessarily. In a group this size a single person losing their head could result in mass confusion and disunity. To keep order, you shall be arranged into four squads. Kankuro, please take command of the ninja on my right flank. Temari, you take control of the ninja to my left. Ebizou-jiisama, you shall be assigned the task of overseeing the shinobi at the head of the group. And finally, Maito Gai, would you be so kind as to take charge of the Konoha ninja at the rear?"

"Of course, Kazekage-sama!" the spandex clad jonin boomed, straightening his posture and smiling his customary tooth gleaming smile. "Until you are safely returned to your village, we shall not rest for even a moment! It is our duty to protect you and we shall do so no matter what!"

"Very well," Gaara nodded shortly. "Everyone stay in formation and proceed carefully. Now, let us return to Suna. I have a village to run."

There were a few muted cheers at Gaara's words, although no scenes of mass celebration this time. Naruto quickly moved into position alongside the rest of the Konoha shinobi assigned with the task of blocking off any possibility of an attack from the rear and Hinata stepped into place alongside him, activating her Byakugan and determined to play an active part in protecting the Kazekage now that her ankle was fully healed. The rest of the Leaf ninja, who had all been wandering aimlessly in the large crowd with varying degrees of interest, quickly rejoined Gai as well, who was standing in his patented 'nice guy pose.' With a grunt he wrapped Kakashi's arm around his neck to prop the silver haired jonin up as the other squad sorted themselves into groups in preparation for departure.

"Gai, don't you think that it would be better for you to move more freely?" Kakashi asked, not even trying to disguise the hope in his voice as his arm was tightened around Gai's neck. "Since you're in command of this squadron, I wouldn't want to slow you down. It would be for the best if someone else were to carry me from now on, don't you think?"

Gai stroked his chin thoughtfully with his free hand. "Hmm… though I would easily be able to carry you from here to Suna, this method of transport _could_ leave me vulnerable if attacked. And it may delay our progress as well, which would be most unyouthful…"

Kakashi nodded quickly, relieved. "Yes, yes, very unyouthful. Let someone else carry me, like Naruto."

Gai pondered Kakashi's proposal for a brief moment, but then his eyebrows jumped upwards and he smiled his customary gleaming smile. "Ah, do not be so hasty, my eternal rival! I have a much better idea!" Ducking slightly, the spandex clad jonin lifted Kakashi up as if he were a small child and hoisted him onto his back in a piggy back position.

Kakashi's one visible eye widened with horror, but his protests were shot down even before he could voice them as Gai shouted enthusiastically, "Yosh! This is much better, I will be able to travel far more swiftly now! There will be no stopping our combined youth!"

As Lee gazed reverently at his sensei, Naruto backed away slightly. _'I can't believe I used to think wearing spandex would be cool…'_ he thought to himself, shuddering slightly as Gai began to practice some kicks and punches to test his greater freedom of movement, almost throwing Kakashi off his back in doing so. Naruto couldn't help but notice that what little of Kakashi's face that wasn't covered by his mask was looking decidedly green.

Lee raised a fist into the air, giving his sensei a thumbs up sign, and began mimicking his Gai's movements, spinning, ducking and punching the air excitedly. "I see, Gai-sensei is training!" he thought aloud, watching closely as his sensei changed tack and began doing some basic warm-up stretches, with Kakashi still clinging on for dear life. "I must follow his example!"

Naruto chuckled as he saw Lee copying Gai's motions with rapt attention, looking exactly like a smaller version of the sensei he idolised so much. His friends could sometimes be annoying, but Naruto would freely admit that he had missed them all

whilst he had been away. Despite their individual quirks there was no doubt in his mind that he enjoyed hanging out with them. He smiled when he realised that there were still plenty of people back in Konoha he still wanted to see and meet up with too – the rest of Team Ten and Team Eight for starters, not to mention Iruka-sensei and the Konohamaru Corps. It made him feel good that he had so many people that were important to him – his friends made him feel accepted and acknowledged, the two things he had strived for most throughout his life.

Thinking of his friends, Naruto glanced across to see the reactions of his other companions. Tenten was shaking her head in despair at her sensei's antics, Sakura had an expression that was a cross between disbelief and disgust, Shikamaru was idly gazing up at the sky and only half paying attention, Hinata was avoiding eye contact with either of them and blushing slightly, clearly embarrassed for the both of them, and Neji was trying to ignore his fellow Konoha jonin as best as he could, pointedly looking in the other direction.

Neji's mood didn't exactly improve when Lee moved alongside him, still mirroring his sensei's motions. "What do you want, Lee?" he asked tiredly, trying not to look at his former teacher.

Lee's response was to end the warm up exercises he had been involved in and duck down slightly, offering his back to the Hyuuga jonin. "Neji, would you like to help me train in the same youthful manner as Gai-sensei?"

Neji's eye twitched. "Please tell me you're joking."

Tenten stifled her laughter at Neji's obvious horror at the idea, but Naruto's ears pricked up and he walked over to the Hyuuga Branch Family member, confused. "Wait, Neji, if your back's so bad, why don't you let Lee carry you? You don't want to make it any worse, right?"

Seeing Lee's eyes light up with the possibility of getting in some 'training,' Neji hastily tried to halt the situation before it led somewhere he didn't particularly want – if Naruto found out he was feigning his injury then his attempt to get his cousin to spend more time with the ramen loving shinobi would have been for nothing. "That won't be necessary, Naruto. My back isn't so severe a hindrance that I am unable t–"

"Oh, well if that's the case then you should have Sakura heal you quickly, before we set off," smiled Tenten sweetly, enjoying the brief flash of panic across Neji's face. "If your back really isn't too bad then it should only take a few seconds, right?"

"Tenten, you're_ not_ helping," hissed Neji out of the corner of his mouth as Naruto cocked his head to one side, confused by the Hyuuga jonin's sudden discomfort.

"Serves you right for calling me 'youthful' in front of everyone on the way!" she whispered back, trying to appear serious. However, the broad, mischievous grin spreading across her face and fun-loving glint in her eyes made Neji far more nervous than he would have been had she been genuinely angry. A teasing Tenten was a dangerous Tenten.

Oblivious to this short interplay, Naruto scratched his head, feeling as though he had missed something in the conversation. "Er, yeah, I could get Sakura-chan to help if you want. She way she healed Hinata-chan so quickly was awesome, so I'm sure she'd be able to fix you up without too much trouble."

Neji groaned. Tenten had backed him into a corner. His only options were to either let Naruto bring Sakura over, which would result in his 'injury' being revealed as fake, or… He grimaced. _'I can't believe I'm actually doing this,'_ he thought gloomily to himself. _'But it's the lesser of two evils…'_

Swallowing his pride, Neji spoke. "Wait, Naruto. I do not wish to bother Sakura when we are about to leave. My back can wait until we have returned to Suna. I…" He almost lost his nerve as he saw Lee blinking owlishly at him, but steeled himself and forced himself to mutter, "I will permit Lee to carry me instead."

Lee flashed a tooth gleaming grin in Neji's direction. "I sincerely thank you for your assistance in my training, Neji. With your help, soon I will truly become a genius of hard work!"

Neji groaned in response.

Tenten had to bite down on her tongue to prevent herself from laughing as Neji, with as much dignity as he could muster, climbed onto Lee's back. She felt a tiny bit guilty, admittedly, but seeing Neji all flustered like this was too good an opportunity to pass up, and after he had embarrassed her on the way to Suna it seemed like fair compensation. _'Revenge is sweet,'_ she thought, grinning inwardly as Gaara made a hand signal and the group began to head back to Suna.

-o-o-

Naruto thumped his pillow a few times in irritation before allowing his head to flop back down and squeezing his eyes shut. After just a few seconds his eyelids snapped open once more, though it didn't make much difference to him due to the darkness of the room, and he growled with frustration. Despite the late hour and the long, tiring journey back to Suna he just couldn't get to sleep! The room was too damn hot! The t-shirt he was sleeping in was sticking to his body with the heat and the bed covers had been thrown aside in a futile effort to cool down.

On the bed next to his he was just about able to make out Shikamaru shifting slightly beneath the sheets, fast asleep, and Naruto could see that Lee was also slumbering peacefully over on the other side of the room, faintly snoring. Naruto snorted. The Nara boy had fallen asleep almost as soon as his head had hit the pillow and Lee had managed to drop off without any problems too. _'Shikamaru and Fuzzy Brows are so lucky, getting to sleep so easily,'_ he thought sourly. _'I'm not even tired yet.'_

Scowling, Naruto looked around the gloom of the room, trying to find something else to focus on that might make him feel drowsy. Of course there was nothing – the hotel room that Gaara had kindly offered them to stay the night in before they headed back to Konoha the following day was spacious and luxurious certainly, with plush carpets and tasteful decorations, but certainly didn't contain anything that would help him get to sleep any faster.

In the other rooms there didn't seem to be anyone up either. Kakashi, Gai and Neji were all sharing a room of their own next door, and Sakura, Tenten and Hinata were in the room opposite. When it had come to room selection there had been some disagreements at first – Lee and Gai had wanted to share a room together, but Kakashi had flat out refused to sleep in the same room as both of 'Konoha's Green Beasts' at the same time, so to solve the issue Neji had volunteered to room with Kakashi and Gai, with Lee then agreeing to join Naruto and Shikamaru instead. From what Naruto could tell Hinata had looked a little apprehensive at sharing a room at first, but after Sakura and Tenten had began their 'girl talk' Hinata had quickly settled in. If the giggles that he had heard earlier from across the corridor were anything to go by, she and the other kunoichi had been enjoying themselves.

Shikamaru had merely mumbled, "Troublesome women…" under his breath and Lee had began to ramble about how wonderful it was that the girls had discovered 'their free, youthful spirits.' Naruto had just shaken his head, bewildered. He may have learned a lot on his training mission with Jiraiya, but girls were still a total mystery to him.

But now, other than his own breathing, Lee's muffled snoring and the faint shifting of the mattress whenever he tried to find a more comfortable position in which to try and get to sleep, the hotel was completely silent. After tossing and turning for another couple of minutes, Naruto huffed with frustration and rose to his feet, giving sleep up for the time being.

Stepping carefully across the floor, being careful not to wake either of his roommates, he headed towards the bathroom to get dressed, planning to take a short walk around Suna to clear his head a little. Groping for the bathroom door in the darkness, Naruto stumbled and nearly tripped over a pair of ninja sandals lying strewn across the floor. Regaining his balance and swearing under his breath at the pain of his stubbed toe, Naruto continued to fumble for the door handle, finally locating it and turning the light on as he entered.

Grabbing the pile of clothes that he had left strewn haphazardly over the bathroom floor, Naruto dressed himself quickly. As he simultaneously zipped up his jacket over his t-shirt and tried to pull on his sandals, hopping on one foot as he did so, the spiky haired ninja couldn't help but admire the hotel's bathroom – after the arduous journey back, with the huge group forced to camp out in the open for one night due to the long distance back to the Hidden Sand Village, Gaara really had been generous in allowing them a free night's stay in the most expensive hotel in Suna. Naruto chuckled inwardly as he remembered the manager's less than enthusiastic welcome to the group of dirty, sweaty Konoha ninja, but once Gaara had walked to the front of the group and stated that they were honoured guests of the village he had suddenly been all smiles, promising them the best rooms in the building and any service they asked for.

The terrified expression on the manager's face as Gaara had stared straight into his eyes and said in a low, warning voice, "See that you do," had been priceless.

Still, Naruto had to admit that the manager had been true to his word. The bathroom was absolutely stunning – the bath tub must have been big enough to fit in half of the population of Suna, there were countless taps that Naruto had fiddled about with like a child when it had been his turn to get washed and the sink was made out of solid marble. It was a kind of luxury Naruto wasn't used to at all back home in Konoha, what with his small, cosy apartment, but it was certainly nice for a change.

Now fully dressed, Naruto turned off the bathroom light and walked over to the hotel room's balcony. Sliding the door open, he breathed in the night air – still fairly warm, but with a light, swirling breeze and much cooler than it had been earlier in the day when the massive squad of Suna and Konoha ninja had crossed the desert. Naruto grimaced at the memory of the gritty sand, someone managing to get everywhere from the soles of his feet to inside of his parched mouth, but his scowl quickly became a smile as he remembered the reception they had got once they had came into sight of Suna. The residents had been waiting for them and their cheers had been enough to make the whole village shake on its foundations. Someone had even set off a cluster of fireworks to mark their return, lighting up the evening sky with streaks of red and gold. Gaara had looked a little overwhelmed by the welcome he had received, but gave a short, heartfelt speech, praising the residents of the village for their 'resilience in the face of adversity' and 'strength in unity.' After ending his speech by publically thanking the Konoha ninja for their efforts, he had directed them to their hotel, thanked them once more and disappeared back to his office with Kankuro and Temari, acting as though it was just another ordinary day of work.

Leaning against the balcony railings, Naruto gazed down at the village far below him. In most of the buildings he could see there were no lights on, with the only sources of brightness being the dimmed streetlights, the near full moon above his head and the twinkling stars dotted across the night sky. However, there was still a festival atmosphere to the village even at this late hour. Across some of the streets he could see a few hastily constructed banners proclaiming Gaara's return, fluttering cheerfully in the night breeze, and in the distance he could just about hear the faint sounds of laughter and music as the celebrations continued late into the night.

Naruto sighed pessimistically as he wondered whether anyone in Konoha would ever cheer in this sort of way for him. The reaction when he had returned from his training mission showed that he was still considered an outcast by many of the villagers. Would they ever accept him in the way that his precious people did? In the way that the residents of Suna had finally come to see Gaara?

Shrugging his thoughts off, Naruto vaulted over the balcony railing, allowing the wind to whistle through his hair as he rapidly dropped towards the ground. _'So what if they don't like me?'_ the orange clad shinobi thought fiercely, forcing chakra into his legs and landing in a crouch, not even winded from the multi-storey fall. _'I'll just have to prove them wrong! If Gaara can change peoples' minds and become the leader of his village, then so can I!'_

Straightening up, Naruto looked around, searching for any sign of inhabitants awake at this hour, but upon finding the area completely deserted he shrugged. Stretching his arms out and putting his hands in the pockets of his jacket he began to walk, wanting to burn off some of his extra energy so that he could finally get some sleep.

Letting his feet guide him, Naruto wandered aimlessly through the streets of Suna, passing a few late night celebrations in bars and similar establishments that seemed to be finally dying down. He found himself curious and impressed by the various features of Suna. It was very different to Konoha, with the streets much narrower and twisting, but enjoyable to explore all the same and soon he became immersed in the mazy, winding roads and alleyways. He felt almost like a tourist, discovering a new, striking feature behind every corner; anything from a wide, paved courtyard with a beautifully sculpted fountain which Naruto had dipped his feet in for a minute, enjoying the cool, refreshing feeling of the water between his toes, to a huge building that looked as if it were a museum or a library of some sort which towered above even the multi-storey hotel that he and the rest of the Konoha ninja were staying in.

However, as Naruto walked past the hospital that he and the rest of his team had entered when they had first reached Suna to allow Sakura to heal Kankuro he realised that he was getting a little lost and didn't know how to get back to his hotel room. The streets were completely unfamiliar to him and the darkness made things even more disorientating, messing with his sense of direction. Thinking for a moment, Naruto decided to try and retrace his steps, but after a few minutes he realised that he was more lost than ever, much to his irritation. The temperature had dropped quite suddenly in the last few minutes too, causing him to shiver and wrap his jacket more tightly around his body as a particularly cold gust of wind whistled through the street.

"Great," he muttered sarcastically to himself as he looked around in a vain attempt to get his bearings back. "How am I supposed to get back to my room now?" Another swirling rush of cold air was the only answer he received.

'_Why is it so damn cold?' _he thought to himself with annoyance, wriggling his toes and rubbing his arms under his jacket in an attempt to warm himself up. _'It was boiling earlier!'_ He remembered Kakashi telling them about the general desert climate when they had been travelling from Konoha to Suna, back when the mission had begun – he could vaguely recall something about how Suna cooled down quickly in the night due to the lack of cloud cover to trap the heat of the day, or something along those lines – but pushed those thoughts out of his mind as a brainwave struck him.

"Hey, wait, I know!" the ramen loving ninja exclaimed, smiling proudly at his new idea. "I should be able to see where the hotel is if I go up on the rooftops to get a better view! I'm a genius!"

Gathering chakra in the soles of his feet, Naruto walked up along the wall of the largest building in the near vicinity. As he reached the top he grinned at the view below, forgetting for a moment why he had climbed the building in the first place, and sat down on the rooftop. The village, spread out below him like a patchwork quilt, looked imposing, with it's tall structures and sombre tones of deep reds, yellows and browns, yet at the same time, surrounded by the desert, it seemed like the only source of life in a barren, arid wasteland. And with Gaara in charge now then it must have really become a haven of sorts; the way that the Kazekage had received all the Konoha ninja with such good grace since they had entered the village showed clearly how Suna had changed under his leadership. The treatment had made Naruto feel almost like a hero, like he was really impor–

"You are up late, Naruto."

"Gah! Gaara?" Naruto yelped, whipping his head around upon hearing the voice of the person he had been thinking about coming from right behind him. "Don't sneak up on me like that! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Gaara inclined his head slightly. "My apologies. If you wish to be alone, I shall take my leave."

Surprised by his friend's words, Naruto shook his head hastily. "Wait, wait, you don't have to go. I'd like a chance to catch up with you; we haven't had a real chance to talk for ages."

The red haired Kazekage smiled ever so slightly and sat down alongside the orange clad ninja. "I would… enjoy that, Naruto."

The pair lapsed into a comfortable silence for a few moments before Naruto spoke, scratching his chin thoughtfully as he tried to think of what to say. "So, uh, Gaara, what're you doing up so late? I thought you would've wanted to get some sleep… y'know, after all you've been through."

Gaara fixed his dark rimmed eyes on Naruto. "My… prisoner… makes sleep a very rare luxury for me," he said quietly. "Though, as we both know, a lack of rest is the least of a Jinchuuriki's problems."

Naruto nodded, becoming serious. "Yeah, we've both had to put up with a lot to get this far, huh?" he asked, not really expecting an answer.

Surprisingly, however, Gaara did reply to his rhetorical question. "True as that may be, I suspect our troubles are by no means over. This Akatsuki group worries me a great deal."

"We kicked their sorry asses!" Naruto snorted dismissively. "If they try anything stupid like that again, we'll just have to teach them that you don't mess with Konoha or Suna!"

Gaara furrowed his eyebrows a fraction. "You should not underestimate a group comprised of S-rank missing nins," he warned. "This was but one small victory, and the price we paid for it was great. Chiyo-baasama sacrificed her life and the Akatsuki still managed to steal almost all of the Ichibi's chakra for an unknown purpose. The threat of this organisation is too great to ignore."

Seeing Naruto about to argue, Gaara silenced him with a blunt question. "Naruto, do you know how I was captured?"

Naruto frowned. "I know one of those Akatsuki bastards defeated and kidnapped you, but I don't really know all the details. Why do you ask?"

"My intelligence sources have stated that the Akatsuki are intent on capturing all Bijuu, and that includes you," said Gaara slowly. Naruto's face scrunched up as he thought about Gaara's words, not really understanding where his friend was going with this. The young Kazekage watched him think for a few seconds, before sighing at the blonde boy's density and continuing, "In order to get to me, the Akatsuki targeted the residents of Suna. I was forced to choose between defeating my enemy or protecting the village. What would you do if your own precious people were also threatened?"

Naruto's eyes widened as he realised the point that Gaara was trying to make. After a moment of silence, the blonde boy hesitantly answered, "I… I guess I don't know. I don't want anyone to get hurt because of me…" Naruto trailed off pensively, before flashing a determined smile. "But I know that I'd keep them safe somehow, no matter what!"

A small smile flitted across Gaara's face. "That may not be enough, but it is at least a start. With that mindset, you may become Hokage after all in the future."

Naruto grinned widely at his red haired friend. "Heh, thanks Gaara. I know it's gonna be tough, but it's my dream and I'm not gonna give it up! That's a promise! Some day I _will _be Hokage!"

Gaara shifted position, offering Naruto his hand in a silent gesture of respect. Smiling, Naruto took it and shook firmly, pleased that Gaara was acknowledging him as an equal despite their difference in rank.

As Naruto released his grip he ran his hand through his spiky hair sheepishly. "Hey, Gaara, do you have any… tips for me? Y'know, for being a good Kage?"

Gaara pondered Naruto's question for a few seconds. "The best advice I can give you is to be willing to accept that, even as a leader, there will be times that you make mistakes. If you accept and learn from your errors and listen to those that wish to guide you then you are on the right path."

Naruto gazed at Gaara thoughtfully, then grinned impishly. "So… you're saying that you've made mistakes too?"

"Of course," answered Gaara drily. "I would not have been captured by the Akatsuki if I were infallible. There is no doubt that I am both young and inexperienced for a leader, but this only means that I must make up for my lack of worldly knowledge by putting more effort into being a good Kage."

Naruto laughed. "You sounded a bit like Fuzzy Brows for a second there with all your talk about hard work."

Gaara shuddered, but couldn't prevent a small smile from reaching his lips. "I hope not. There is much to admire about Lee, but if I ever wear… _that…_ then you have permission to knock some sense into me once again."

Naruto grinned innocently. "I dunno Gaara… I bet those girls you were fighting off would have loved to see you wearing spandex!"

Gaara scowled slightly. "I enjoy my role as Suna's Kazekage, and protecting my home is very important to me, but those girls did _not_ come as part of the job description. They are almost as bad as the endless forms I am tasked with filling out."

Naruto chuckled. "Is the paperwork really that bad?"

Gaara grunted and raised himself to his feet. "Why do you think I am out here talking to you, rather than inside my office? After my absence from the village, my in tray is overflowing."

Naruto blinked. "Did you… did you just make a joke?"

Gaara smiled again, a hint of mischief present in his gaze. "Perhaps you have had a more profound influence on me than you expected. For now, however, I think it would be best if we turned in for the night. After all, both of us must be up early for Chiyo-baasama's funeral and your departure back to Konoha."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, see you then Gaara. Good luck with running the village and everything. Oh, and see if you can get yourself a girlfriend too!"

Gaara snorted. "You should take your own advice, Naruto. If you opened your eyes, you may find someone suitable for you already."

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" asked Naruto, bewildered. Gaara, however, merely smiled secretively, stepped to the edge of the rooftop and began to disintegrate, his body slowly turning into sand with his peaceful smile the last feature to disappear.

Shrugging his shoulders at Gaara's final enigmatic comment, Naruto watched the sand drift away in the night breeze, glimmering faintly in the moonlight for a brief second before dispersing completely. Grinning lopsidedly, Naruto turned to jump of the roof before a thought struck him like a hammer blow.

"Crap! I should've asked Gaara for directions back to my room!"

-o-o-

The journey back to Konoha took longer than the trek to Suna at the very beginning of the mission, due to both the lack of the same urgency that had been present on their original trip, whilst Gaara had been in the Akatsuki's clutches and the fact that Gai was still carrying the chakra depleted Kakashi on his back. Sakura had examined him thoroughly, but concluded that, other than recommending the silver haired jonin should rest as much as possible, there wasn't really anything she could do to help him. However, despite the more laid back attitude of the group there was a rising sense of anticipation as they leapt through the forest just outside the village, getting closer and closer to the gates of Konoha. Home, and all its comforts – a ninja equipment supplier to replace all lost weapons for Tenten, a bookshop to check whether or not the much anticipated new novel in the Icha Icha series was out yet for Kakashi and all-you-can-eat ramen at Ichiraku's for Naruto – were just a short distance away.

Then again, although Hinata was looking forward to having a warm, relaxing shower as soon as she got home she didn't mind the more leisurely pace they were setting this time around – it was nice to watch the now familiar scenery pass her by as they approached Konoha. One of the things she enjoyed most about being a ninja was that it allowed her to travel and see the world.

She cast her eyes to her left, where Sakura and Tenten were travelling alongside her, chatting unconcernedly with each other, and thought back to the conversation they'd had back at the hotel in Suna. Hinata had felt a little nervous and tentative about speaking to her fellow kunoichi at first, feeling like she didn't know them well enough to strike up a conversation, but after her initial self-consciousness had faded she had quickly realised, much to her surprise, how easy it was to just relax and talk to the girls. They had quite happily included her in their conversation and had even seemed to enjoy her company, offering to meet up at the hot springs or invite her over for a sleepover once they were back in Konoha.

Hinata had found that she had more in common than she had expected with Sakura and Tenten. They had shared all sorts of information; anything from anecdotes about teammates and missions to the best skincare products to prevent blisters and scarring after a hard day's training and Hinata had really enjoyed the feeling of fitting in with girls her own age. Her sister Hanabi was the only other person that Hinata really had any opportunity to talk to about these kind of topics – she had to force back a giggle as she thought of the reactions of Kiba and Shino if she started talking to them about hair conditioners and shampoo.

However, almost inevitably, after a while the subject had of course turned to boys and this of course meant that, after a short, slightly awkward pause when Sasuke's name was brought up and a rather salacious discussion about the limits of Neji's Byakugan's X-ray capabilities that had left Tenten grinning suggestively and Hinata pressing her index fingers together, face flushed, the topic settled on her feelings for Naruto. Hinata blushed scarlet at just the memory. Some of the questions Sakura and Tenten had asked her had been so embarrassing! And the advice…!

Sakura's suggestion of being more assertive – her exact words were, "Go all out to impress him! Love is war, so don't hold back and hit him with everything you got, cha!" – had reduced Hinata to a stuttering wreck for at least a minute and Tenten's follow up advice to 'take control' of the relationship, complete with a vivid and detailed description of how exactly to go about doing that, had left even Sakura with a slight blush.

However, before the conversation had managed to progress beyond this point and cause Hinata any further embarrassment, there had been a knock on the door. Answering it, the pink haired medic nin had found herself face to face with Neji, who arched an eyebrow as both she and Tenten forced back giggles and Hinata blushed bright pink. Noticing with mild interest that Tenten was staring openly at his Byakugan eyes as she bit her lip to repress laughter, he entered, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"My apologies for disturbing you all, but Kakashi has advised that we should all get some sleep before Chiyo's funeral early tomorrow morning. We will be leaving immediately after the ceremony is over."

The girls quickly became rather more subdued upon hearing the news of the Suna kunoichi's impending burial. "Thanks Neji, we'll be sure to do that," Sakura answered.

Neji nodded, but didn't leave straight away. "Ano… was there anything else Kakashi-sensei w-wanted you to tell us, Neji-niisan?" Hinata asked curiously.

Neji had rubbed the back of his neck in an uncharacteristically awkward gesture. "I… would like to thank Sakura-san for _healing_ my back earlier," he said slowly, putting emphasis on 'healing.'

Sakura's forehead scrunched up with puzzlement. "What are you talking about? I didn't heal you earlier."

"Yes," said Neji, even more slowly this time, "You did."

Tenten sighed impatiently. "I'll explain it to her Neji, don't worry. We'll be getting ready for bed now, good night."

The Hyuuga jonin had nodded wordlessly and left, closing the door quietly behind him. "Er… can anyone fill me in on what he was talking about?" asked Sakura, still confused.

Tenten sighed again. "It's a long story…" she said tiredly, as the three of them prepared to settle in for the night.

The funeral had been at almost the crack of dawn the following day, but no-one complained about the early hour. Hinata felt a little bad that she had nothing appropriate to wear for such a sombre occasion, but none of the other Konoha ninja were wearing anything other than their usual mission clothes either, so she didn't feel too uncomfortable. It had also helped that there had been a huge send-off for the Suna village elder, with hundreds of mourners lined up on the edge of the village in the early morning to see her burial. To Hinata's surprise the Kazekage himself had been the one to conduct the service and he had been genuinely heartfelt as he had addressed the onlookers, describing Chiyo's many past accomplishments and her worth both as a ninja and as a person.

Many of the crowd, Hinata and Sakura included, had shed tears when the coffin had been lowered into the ground. It made things completely final in the Hyuuga girl's mind. Chiyo was now gone, gone forever and confined only to memories.

'_I promise I won't ever forget what you did for me, Chiyo-baasama,'_ Hinata had thought sadly as she stared at the simple tombstone marking her grave, the crowd beginning to disperse now that the service was over. _'Because of your sacrifice, I'm still alive today. I… I want to live in a way that you would be proud of. I want to be the best person I can be… for you and for all the important people that I want to protect.'_

After the burial, as Maito Gai called everyone over to make their last preparations before leaving with an unwilling Kakashi perched precariously on his back once again, Hinata had taken one final, sorrowful glance at the freshly turned earth marking the elderly Suna kunoichi's grave, before faintly whispering, "Thank you, Chiyo-baasama," and hurrying to catch up with everyone else, making sure not to look back.

With the funeral over, Gaara, flanked by Temari and Kankuro, had led the Konoha shinobi to the village gates to wish them a safe journey home. Hinata smiled at the recollection of Gaara formally extending a hand for Naruto to shake as everyone else had been saying their goodbyes, only to be caught off guard by Naruto throwing an arm around the red haired Kazekage's shoulder and being pulled into a one armed hug. The blonde haired ninja had loudly proclaimed, "See ya later then, Gaara! Next time the two of us meet, I'm gonna be Hokage for sure!"

The red headed Kazekage had looked caught in two minds at first as to whether to hug Naruto back or remind the ramen loving shinobi about 'personal space.' However, after a moment's hesitation and seeing Kankuro nod encouragingly at him he had awkwardly patted Naruto on the back, wishing his first ever friend goodbye and a safe journey.

Gaara's surprise by the physical contact from Naruto was completely overshadowed by what happened next, though. Just as the orange clad shinobi released him and the group was about to leave, Temari walked straight up to Shikamaru, grabbed the collar of his chuunin vest and boldly pulled him in for a heated kiss. Shikamaru's eyes had widened with shock and he had totally frozen for a second, but before he could react Temari had pulled away, fiercely whispered, "You'd better remember to write to me, you lazy ass, or else!" and moved back to Gaara's side, her slightly flushed face the only sign that anything out of the ordinary had happened.

For a few long seconds everyone was silent, far too surprised at Temari's brazenness to do anything other than gawp open mouthed at her. Caught off guard though she was, Hinata couldn't help but feel the tiniest hint of admiration for the Suna kunoichi. Even with everyone watching her, she hadn't been afraid of engaging in such an open display in front of so many people in the slightest – Hinata was almost certain that, even assuming she could have done something that bold to Naruto with everyone watching her, she would have fainted on the spot straight afterwards. She was blushing just from watching the passionate kiss!

As Shikamaru blinked dazedly, Kankuro began to shake from the effort of suppressing sniggers. Collecting himself, the Nara clan member coughed awkwardly, muttered, "Yeah, I will," under his breath to Temari, and began walking extremely quickly towards the gates of Suna, trying and failing to appear casual.

The back of his neck was very noticeably red for at least half an hour after the other Konoha shinobi had caught up to him and started on their journey home.

Naruto had been the first to reach Shikamaru and had grinned devilishly at his friend for almost a minute before Shikamaru finally spoke up.

"What?" the lazy chuunin had asked sourly, glancing at Naruto out of the corner of his eye.

"Nothing, nothing," Naruto answered cheerfully, his grin widening. "Just that you seemed to be enjoying yourself back there with Temari."

Shikamaru groaned. "You're not gonna let up on this for the whole way home, are you?"

Naruto smirked. "Nope!"

Shikamaru sighed, shaking his head. "How troublesome. Look, there's nothing going on between us, ok? It was just a kiss – that's all."

Naruto smiled smugly. "I may be an idiot, but even I'm not _that_ stupid. Temari's tongue was practically down your throat!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes but couldn't prevent his cheeks from reddening slightly. "Ok, fine, if you're gonna tease me about it then I don't care. Just promise me one thing."

Naruto cocked his head to the side. "What?"

Despite the slowly rising temperature of the desert as the sun rose higher into the sky, Shikamaru shivered. "_Please_ don't tell Ino when we get back. If she finds out, I'll never live it down."

Naruto blinked with surprise, then began to chuckle. Shikamaru glared at him. "Ok, ok, I promise," Naruto relented, still laughing.

Despite himself, Shikamaru had cracked a wry smile of his own and the two of them quickly settled into a pattern of good natured ribbing. Lee had joined in as well once he had caught up, predictably far more enthusiastic about the situation than Shikamaru, and the three of them had soon been laughing and joking.

Thinking back to the kiss as she ducked under a large tree branch, Hinata wondered where Temari's forwardness had come from. She had noticed that Shikamaru had gotten on well with her, and had wondered whether there was any more to their relationship than either of them had previously admitted, but she still hadn't expected anything like that to happen. Still, if she could ever learn to kiss Naruto like that… or if Naruto could kiss her in that way…

Hinata was brought out of her dreamy reverie as she almost slipped on a moss covered tree branch. Regaining her balance quickly she blushed, chastising herself for her lack of focus – she shouldn't be thinking about Naruto in that way whilst they were still technically on a mission, after all – and hoped that no-one had noticed her small mishap. Luckily for her, everyone seemed to be focusing straight ahead, and as she peered through the trees herself she quickly saw why. Up ahead, she could see the gates of Konoha, out of focus in the distance but getting closer with every passing second.

"Alright!" Naruto cheered, raising both arms into the air. "We're finally home! Ichiraku's, here I come!"

Hinata smiled at the blonde boy's exuberance as they left the treetops and landed on the dirt road leading into Konoha, closing in on the village rapidly. She had enjoyed the mission immensely and a small part of her didn't want it to end – despite everything that had happened, seeing Chiyo's death right before her eyes and almost dying herself in the fight against Sasori, she felt like she had managed to become closer to Naruto and maybe, just maybe, improve herself and become a little stronger than before, even if it was only by a tiny amount. However, as the group of Konoha shinobi eagerly walked through the gates, tired and bedraggled but above all else proud, Hinata reflected that Naruto was right; there really was no place like home.

**Author's Notes: **Well, here's the next chapter for you all, and that's the conclusion of the 'Rescue Gaara' arc. Not exactly an action filled chapter, sorry about that, but next up will be the preparations for the new mission to find the spy in Orochimaru's organisation, so there's plenty of fight scenes and character development still to come. Looking at it now, I've realised just what a massive task I've set myself by writing this story, but it's really fun planning out both the romance and action scenes and there's still plenty more to come. To anyone worried about me quitting half way through, like the reviewer Thelonelydreamer, I'm not gonna do that unless I have literally no other choice – I've started this, and I sure as Hell want to finish, even if it kills me! For this chapter, I tried to make Tobi as silly as possible – he was a really fun character before he got all serious. Probably because he started hanging around Sasuke too much – that can't be good for a person! I also added a bit of 'male bonding time' between Naruto and Gaara, which was quite enjoyable to write – the Suna siblings won't be back in the story for a while now, unfortunately, so this was the last chance for quite a long time to get some character development in and I thought it'd be good to show that Gaara and Naruto have a real understanding of each other now, even more so than before. The 'girl bonding' content was interesting for me as well, not to mention a little strange to write out if I'm honest, but a lot of fun too – heh, who says girls can't be just as perverted as guys at times? No new jutsu in this chapter to translate, so that's me done for now. See you next chapter for your next recommended dosage of Sour Grapes, bye!

**Joke Corner:**** I was once asked if I would prefer to have a long memory or a long penis. I forget my answer.**


	14. Sai Language

Chapter Fourteen: Sai Language

Heels clacking sharply against the polished surface of the hospital floor, Tsunade stormed through the corridors in a foul mood. Her thunderous expression sent medic nins scurrying out of her way in fear and her dark haired assistant was struggling to keep up.

"Tsunade-sama, please don't overreact!" Shizune begged, repositioning a sleeping Tonton in her arms as she tried to meet the Godaime's furious gaze. "The requests made by the elders were reasonable and they even agreed to form a compromise with you!"

Tsunade barged through a pair of swinging double doors, nearly knocking them off their hinges. "They wanted Naruto, one of our village's most important assets, to stop taking missions outside the village! I don't care how influential Homura and Koharu are – those dried out old buzzards aren't going to push me around so long as I'm Hokage! It's bad enough that I had to agree to let Danzo –" Tsunade's mouth pursed with distaste at the ANBU leader's name "– choose a member of Naruto's team from the Root division, but that's all the leeway I'm giving them."

"But Tsunade-sama, you know that Naruto-kun is a special case. Now that he's been targeted by the Akatsuki is it really wise for him to leave the safety of Konoha, even with the support of a team?"

The female Sannin came to a halt in the middle of the corridor, taking a deep breath to calm herself down. Talking with the village elders always made her blood boil – they were just so damn stubborn! Danzo in particular was infuriating; whenever he spoke Tsunade always felt on edge, as if there were an ulterior motive behind every word that left his mouth. The Sandaime's old rival was a cunning one without a doubt. And even worse than being forced to relent to the inflexible elders, she hadn't even been allowed any sake in the meeting with them!

After regaining her composure she refocused on Shizune's question. "You didn't have any objections to me choosing Naruto for the mission to rescue the Kakezage," the blonde haired woman pointed out, watching her assistant beadily out of the corner of her eye.

Shizune shifted uncomfortably. "Yes, but Naruto-kun had Kakashi-san with him, one of the most powerful ninja in Konoha, and with a backup squad sent to Suna as well the risk of him being isolated and captured was low. And even then I had some reservations with sending him on a mission with the Akatsuki directly involved…" The younger woman bit her lip, staring down at the floor in an effort to avoid Tsunade's piercing gaze.

The Hokage smiled wryly at her assistant's obvious discomfort at admitting her doubts. "Shizune, I have the exact same worries, but we can't wrap Naruto up in cotton wool. He's not a child anymore. Besides, the Akatsuki situation was precisely why I sent Naruto in the first place – he understands the pain of being a Jinchuuriki better than anyone, which made him the best choice for saving Gaara."

Shizune considered the Godaime's words carefully. "Yes, I suppose that makes sense," she admitted after a few seconds deliberation. "But it still doesn't explain why you're so keen on sending Naruto-kun out of the village again into what could well be an Akatsuki trap. According to the mission report we only have Sasori's word that this could be a lead to Sasuke… Is it really worth the risk of letting one of the Bijuu fall into the Akatsuki's hands?"

Tsunade laughed humourlessly. "Do you think the Akatsuki are just going to ignore Naruto if he stays in Konoha? The Kazekage was captured in his home village – who's to say that the same won't happen to Naruto? As far as I'm concerned, the less time he spends in one place the better. It'll be harder for his enemies to pinpoint his location if he's always on the move."

"But with the Akatsuki potentially involved this situation is still very dangerous," said Shizune quietly, after a momentary pause. "If Naruto-kun were captured, what if they're able to use the power of the Kyuubi against the village because of your decision?"

Tsunade drew her back up straight. "If that happens… if the worst case scenario really does unfold… then I will protect the residents of Konoha with my life, like all of my predecessors – because I am the Hidden Leaf Village's Hokage!"

"Tsunade-sama…" Shizune breathed out, lost for words at the Slug Sannin's fiercely proud response. Tonton let out a sleepy grunt in her arms, trying to find a more comfortable position in which to doze.

The blonde haired leader of Konoha winked at her fellow medic nin. "Impressed? I used those same lines on the elders earlier. It seemed to win them over too!"

Shizune laughed at Tsunade's ability to go from serious to teasing in a matter of moments. "Ok, I'll trust in your judgement even if it goes against my own," she agreed, smiling contentedly. "After all, you are the Hokage for a reason… though what reason that is exactly I don't really know!"

The Godaime joined in with her assistant's laughter and began walking again, though at a more reasonable pace this time, and Shizune fell into step behind her. After a minute or so of companionable silence, the two kunoichi eventually stopped outside one of the hospital's many rooms. Through the small window of the door the resting form of Kakashi could be seen, his face hidden behind his ever present Icha Icha book.

Tsunade entered the room, not bothering to knock, but the masked jonin heard her presence anyway. "You're late for the check up," he announced, turning a page in his book and not even looking up. "Before she left, Sakura said you'd be here ten minutes ago. Problems with the elders?"

The Hokage snorted. "Calling _me_ late, Kakashi? That's a good one. I can't remember you ever being on time when I've ordered you to report to my office."

The copy nin shrugged. "Point taken."

"Kakashi-san, you said Sakura was here earlier?" Shizune intervened. "Shouldn't she still be here looking after you?"

"I think she said something about going to get Naruto so he could come see me," Kakashi answered lazily. "Nothing like a visit from the number one hyperactive knuckle-headed shinobi of the village to help me get better."

Tsunade frowned thoughtfully. "If she isn't here, then now's the perfect opportunity to ask some… sensitive questions about the mission you were just on."

Kakashi lowered his book at the Hokage's serious tone of voice. "By _sensitive,_ are you talking about Naruto's… tenant?" he asked cautiously, his face unreadable behind his mask.

The Godaime nodded shortly, eyes fixed on Kakashi.

The silver haired sensei let out a sigh. "I can tell that Naruto has improved at controlling his emotions over the past two-and-a-half years, but even so there were still a few… incidents… where the Kyuubi was dangerously close to the surface. When we saw the fake Itachi his chakra noticeably spiked and when we were chasing the clay user I thought I sensed something too. The trigger seems to be rage – whenever Naruto's anger rises, so does the Kyuubi's presence."

"What about Jiraiya?" Tsunade asked. "Did the old pervert say anything about it to you before he left Konoha again?"

Kakashi reached across to the table beside his bed, where his clothes were neatly laid out, and rooted around in the one of the pockets of his green vest. After a second or two he pulled out a small slip of paper and Tsunade's eyes widened. "A repressive seal…" she murmured, impressed. "For a no-good womaniser, the old goat certainly knows his stuff…"

Kakashi nodded. "Yeah, before we left for Suna Jiraiya-sama pulled me aside and gave this to me, just in case. Luckily I didn't need to use it, but next time we might not be so fortunate. Naruto's emotions are his greatest strength in many ways, but they're also very, very dangerous. He wears his heart on his sleeve, which makes him vulnerable to enemies that look to get to him with taunts and threats. If he were ever to lose control without someone to place the seal on him…" Kakashi visibly shivered.

"What makes it even worse is that the Kyuubi's chakra is poisonous," added Tsunade in a low voice. "Whenever Naruto draws upon the fox's power, not only does he risk hurting those around him, he's damaging his own body too. And although the Kyuubi's chakra does grant him rapid regenerative powers, the strain on his cells would be too great… He would be shortening his own life span."

After a short pause, Kakashi spoke up again, his voice sombre. "Jiraiya-sama told me that he attempted loosening Naruto's seal whilst they were away on the training mission."

Shizune gasped, placing a hand over her mouth and nearly dropping the snoozing Tonton in the process, as Tsunade froze, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "What happened?" she snapped. "What did he say?"

A little nervous at being confined to bed in the same room as the suddenly enraged Godaime, Kakashi continued, albeit slightly hesitantly. "I'm afraid I don't know all the details, Hokage-sama, but from the sounds of things whatever Jiraiya-sama was attempting didn't work. Naruto transformed into a… well, what sounded like a 'miniature Kyuubi,' based on the description I was given, and went on a rampage. Only four tails sprouted, but Jiraiya-sama showed me the scar that the beast gave him. It wasn't pretty."

"Damn pervert!" Tsunade muttered under her breath. "He never said anything about that to me in his report on Naruto's training. He's lucky he wasn't killed!" Shaking her head, Tsunade lapsed into silence, brows furrowed.

"Ano… Tsunade-sama?" said Shizune, tapping the Slug Sannin lightly on the shoulder. "I don't mean to interrupt, but aren't we here to check up on Kakashi-san?"

"Oh, yes, that's right." Tsunade picked up the clipboard on the end of Kakashi's bed and scanned it briefly. "Hmm… well, I'm afraid that you're going to be out of commission for at least a week, Kakashi. You have extremely acute chakra depletion and unfortunately the only way that you'll fully recover is by getting lots of rest."

"A whole week?" Shizune queried, crestfallen. "But that means that Kakashi-san won't have recovered in time for this new mission to the Hidden Grass Village. Does that mean you won't be sending Naruto-kun or Sakura-chan, Tsunade-sama?"

The Godaime opened her mouth to answer, but before she could a shout was heard from outside the room. "Hey Kakashi-sensei!" a voice yelled, echoing down the corridor and accompanied by running footsteps. "We're here to visit!"

The voice was cut off by a muffled thump. "Naruto you idiot, no running in the hospital!" yelled an irate female voice. "People are trying to rest here!"

"Oww, Sakura-chan, you could have just said so," whined Naruto's voice. "And if me running is disturbing people, how come you get to shout?"

Shizune and Kakashi simultaneously winced as another yelp of pain and a roar of, "Idiot!" could be heard from just outside the room. Just a few seconds later the two members of Team Seven walked through the doorway, Naruto clutching the back of his head and Sakura glaring at him. Her irritated expression quickly changed to one of guilt, however, when she noticed the Hokage's disapproving expression. "Um… Tsunade-shishou…" she laughed nervously. "I didn't know you were here…"

The blonde haired Hokage's frown deepened and she crossed her arms severely. "It appears you need to follow your own advice, Sakura," she stated, arching an eyebrow. "This is a hospital, as you so clearly pointed out to Naruto, and should be treated as such. The rules apply just as much to staff as they do to visitors. No more shouting."

"O-Of course, Tsunade-shishou," stammered Sakura, red faced at being caught out by her superior. "I promise it won't happen again."

"And you, Naruto," Tsunade continued airily, noticing the blonde haired ninja's relieved grin at not being reprimanded himself. "If you run in the corridors like that again, I'll assign you nothing but D-rank missions for the next year. Is that understood?"

Naruto's smile was wiped of his face at the Godaime's words and his eyes widened with horror. Memories of all the times he had been forced to do gardening, litter-picking and all sorts of other menial, mundane tasks back when he had first become a genin flashed before his eyes. "No, please, anything but that! I won't do it again, I swear!"

Tsunade had to force back a grin. It was so much fun to mess with the heads of her subordinates! "Make sure that you don't, both of you," she said in the sternest voice she could muster, trying to keep her face straight.

The subdued nods from both of the teenaged ninja in front of her made her chuckle inwardly. _'Maybe I'm finally getting the recognition I deserve!'_ she cheered inside her mind. _'It's about damn time!'_

Unfortunately for Tsunade, Naruto brought her back down to earth with a bump. "Ne, Baachan, how's Kakashi-sensei doing?" he asked, peering over the blonde haired woman's shoulder at the silver haired jonin, who waved wearily at his student. "Does he have to stay in bed? Will he be ok soon?"

A vein bulged in the Hokage's forehead as she let out a frustrated sigh at Naruto's incessant questioning. _'Who was I kidding?'_ she thought gloomily. _'The chances of Naruto showing me some respect are about the same as Jiraiya becoming celibate.'_

Seeing the Slug Sannin's expression, torn between righteous anger and tired resignation, Shizune stepped in to answer the ramen loving shinobi's question. "Kakashi-san should make a full recovery soon, Naruto-kun, but for now he needs rest. He won't be able to take any missions for at least a week, which means we might have to change how we approach the Hidden Grass Village."

"Huh?" frowned Naruto, his head cocked to one side. "But you have to send our team! This is our chance to find Sasuke again; there's no way we'll fail this time! We can't just –"

"I can't send an incomplete squad, Naruto," interrupted Tsunade. "Kakashi is in no state to even get out of bed, never mind lead a vital mission, and sending just the two of you on your own into what could possibily be an Akatsuki trap would be far too reckless." Raising a hand as she saw Sakura and Naruto both open their mouths to protest, she continued firmly, "However, that doesn't mean that I think your team is unsuited for the task. Naruto was right; because of your bonds with Sasuke, you'll both be doing everything in your power to make this mission a success. That sort of motivation and drive is precisely why I think that the two of you are the best possible candidates."

Sakura cracked her knuckles and smiled confidently as Naruto gave an embarrassed grin at the Hokage's words and rubbed the back of his head, not used to such praise. In the past he had been forced to work himself to the bone to get any sort of acknowledgement at all, so he still felt a little awkward being complimented. On the rare occasions anyone spoke highly of him it felt almost as though he were naked, his bravado and confidence stripped away from him to leave him exposed and vulnerable, but he couldn't deny that it made him feel warm inside as well.

Attempting to brush of the disconcerting feelings, Naruto spoke up. "So what's gonna happen with this new mission, Baachan?" he asked, staring up at Konoha's leader questioningly. "Are we gonna have another jonin-sensei in charge?"

Tsunade shook her head. "Your new team hasn't been confirmed yet," she replied, a small frown creasing her forehead slightly. "I'm still being… _advised_ on the best candidate for your new squad leader and teammate." Her grimace after she had spoken showed that she was clearly still unhappy about being overruled by the elders and Danzo.

"Oh, so we need a new team member as well?" Naruto questioned eagerly, face lighting up. "Leave it to me, Baachan!" With that, the spiky haired ninja sprinted out the door, ignoring Sakura's angry yells not to run in the hospital.

Tsunade shook her head. "Honestly, I despair with that boy sometimes… He never seems to slow down."

However, halfway down the corridor Naruto suddenly remembered something and screeched to a halt. Turning around he ran back into Kakashi's room, not even pausing to knock as he entered, and dashed past Shizune to the side of Kakashi's bed. Ignoring the mixed reactions of everyone present – Tsunade rolled her eyes, Shizune peered concernedly at the silver haired jonin, wondering if Naruto was disturbing him from his rest, Kakashi arched an eyebrow quizzically and Sakura huffed with annoyance at Naruto's relentless energy – the orange clad ninja rummaged in his pockets for a moment, before grinning widely as he found what he was looking for. "Oh, Kakashi-sensei, I almost forgot, I have a get-well-soon present for you!" he beamed, thrusting a hastily wrapped package into the masked copy nin's hands. "Here, take it!"

Surprised, Kakashi received the parcel from Naruto and shook it, attempting to figure out its contents. As Naruto's smile grew, becoming mischievous, the copy nin shrugged and tore through the messily wrapped paper. As he saw what was underneath Kakashi's one visible eyes widened. "Is this… what I think it is?" he asked hoarsely, not tearing his eyes away from Naruto's present for even a moment.

"Yep," grinned Naruto, enjoying Kakashi's shock. "The brand new book in Ero-Sennin's series, 'Icha Icha Tactics'! It's boring as Hell, but I thought you'd enjoy it!"

"But… this isn't even out in the shops yet…" said Kakashi faintly, clutching the book as if it would disappear if he put it down.

"Yeah, I know, it's a pre-release version," Naruto nodded importantly. "I thought it'd give you something to do whilst you're stuck in bed. This is Ero-Sennin's first novel for three years so it'll probably be a big seller too, even though I have no idea why." The Uzumaki boy scrunched up his face with thought as he tried to figure it out.

"Thank you, Naruto… but how did you get hold of this?" Kakashi asked, perplexed. "I know people that would pay a small fortune to get their hands on this book!"

"Oh, that. Ero-Sennin's made me be his proof-reader," replied Naruto sourly. "The old pervert wouldn't train me unless I read through his stupid books for any mistakes."

Kakashi gazed up at Naruto with something close to awe, tears of happiness in his eye. "You're Jiraiya-sama's proof-reader? Oh, Naruto, you've grown up so much! I'm so proud of you!" The silver haired jonin sniffled, patted Naruto on the shoulder and without any further ado opened the book and began to read, oblivious to the world around him.

Shrugging his shoulders at his sensei's weird behaviour, Naruto was about to leave, but was stopped when he saw Shizune running for cover and felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Turning slowly, he saw both Tsunade and Sakura looking as though they were about to explode with anger.

"You were reading porn on your trip?" shouted Sakura incredulously, hands balled into fists. "You pervert!"

"Sakura-chan, c'mon, I had no choice," Naruto pleaded, turning to the Hokage for help against his teammate's wrath. However, Tsunade appeared, if anything, even more enraged than her pink haired pupil.

"Let me get this straight…" the Godaime hissed in a deadly whisper. "Not only did Jiraiya write that _filth_ in front of you… he also deliberately forced it on to you? Naruto, tell me everything about it right now! As soon as that depraved old man gets home I'll castrate him!"

Naruto's face paled as both student and teacher closed in on him. "Er, I think I'm gonna find someone for our team now," he said nervously, looking around desperately for an escape route of some sort. "See ya later!"

With a bend of the knees, the orange clad shinobi jumped through the window, ignoring the shouts for him to come back. Landing in a crouch on the roof of the closest building to the hospital, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief at his close shave. _'Man, Sakura-chan and Tsunade-baachan are scary enough on their own – when they're together…' _Naruto shivered, then smirked. _'Oh well, at least Kakashi-sensei seemed to like the book.'_

Thoughts resolved, the blonde haired ninja tightened his hitai-ite around his forehead and prepared to begin his search.

-o-o-

With infinite precision, Choji picked up a small chunk of meat on the end of his chopsticks and inhaled deeply, the wonderful aroma wafting into his nostrils. Salivating, the Akimichi boy closed his eyes dreamily and deposited it into his mouth, chewing slowly to savour the delicious mix of sauces and the wonderfully crisp texture of the pork. Swallowing, he let out a quiet sigh of contentment. Konoha had all sorts of great restaurants that specialised in anything from vegetarian food to fish, but the barbequed pork was his favourite, hands down.

"Choji, seriously, we have to go now or we're gonna be late for Asuma-sensei's team meeting!" called a shrill voice from across the table, shattering the image of Choji's tranquil dining experience.

"Relax, Ino," Shikamaru yawned lazily from his seat next to the rotund chuunin. "I'm sure he can wait a little while longer. Anyway, Choji's almost done now, right pal?"

Nodding, the brown haired boy popped the final slice of meat into his mouth. "Yeah, that ought to do as a light snack," he commented, his mouth still full.

"Snack?" Ino screeched. "That was your third helping! How can you possibly eat so much?"

Choji looked slightly hurt. "I need to eat to keep my chakra levels high so I can use my family's jutsus. And besides, I can't help it if I'm big boned."

Seeing Ino about to press the point further, Shikamaru quickly stepped in to avoid a confrontation. "We'd probably better get going now," he said hastily, throwing down a few coins to pay for his share of the food. "No need to keep Asuma-sensei waiting any longer, right?"

Ino sighed impatiently but nodded her assent, much to Shikamaru's relief. The last time she had made a snipe about Choji's weight the end result had been a training field so completely destroyed that a shell shocked Asuma had been forced to pay for the rebuilding works. Needless to say, the Yamanaka girl had apologised immediately afterwards.

Placing a scattering of coins on the table top herself, alongside a far larger mound of Choji's money, Ino exasperatedly exited the restaurant, her teammates trailing behind her as usual.

"Ino really needs to lighten up," murmured Shikamaru in a low voice, making certain that the blonde girl ahead of him was out of earshot. The streets may have been busy and noisy, but Ino had a habit of hearing anything that he wanted to keep quiet.

Choji nodded in agreement. "I guess, but it's still nice for us to hang out as a team like this. We don't really get to meet up with each other or Asuma-sensei as much as we used to."

"Yeah, I never seem to have any free time any more. The mission I was just on was really tiring and Hokage-sama's always setting me some new task or another – preparing for the Chuunin Exams was so troublesome."

"Really?" Choji asked, smiling teasingly. "From what I could tell, you were enjoying hanging out with Temari…"

Shikamaru's face flushed slightly as he weaved his way around a group of children running in the street. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked defensively, glancing narrowly at his long-time friend.

Choji shrugged, holding his hands up placatingly. "Nothing, nothing, just an observation. I didn't mean to be pushy or anything."

Shikamaru grinned wryly, relenting. "Don't worry about it. Being pushy is Ino's job." The Akimichi boy stifled his laughter, not wanting to anger his blonde haired teammate. "But yeah, I guess working with Temari _was_ more fun than I'd expected," the shadow user continued grudgingly. "And, as much as I hate to admit it… I think I'm gonna miss her."

Choji considered Shikamaru's words carefully. "Y'know, I think Temari really appreciated your help when she was staying here in Konoha," he remarked casually.

The Nara boy raised an eyebrow curiously, waiting for Choji to continue.

"I mean, coming to stay in a new village and hardly knowing anyone must have been pretty tough for her, right?" said the brown haired boy reasonably, following Ino down a side road as they headed for their team's usual training ground. "I bet a lot of people would have felt lonely in that sort of situation, far away from their friends and family."

Shikamaru snorted. "You really think Temari's the type to get homesick?" he asked, disbelief written all over his face.

"Maybe," answered Choji defensively. "But even if she wasn't I could see that she was kinda happy that you were introducing her to friends and showing her around and stuff. I'm sure she only enjoyed her stay in the village so much because you were helping her fit in."

"Hmm…" Shikamaru frowned thoughtfully. "I'd never really thought of it like that… When did you get so observant, Choji?"

The larger boy laughed. "I guess when you hang out with a genius you pick up a trick or two!"

Shikamaru let out a chuckle of his own, but stopped as he noticed Ino had come to a halt up ahead in the middle of the street and was staring upwards at the building opposite the hospital. "Hey Ino, what's up?" he called, puzzled.

"There's someone standing on the roof over there," Ino answered, confusion apparent in her voice.

"So?" Shikamaru shrugged, following her gaze. "It's probably just an ANBU member on patrol or something."

Ino shook her head. "I can't see the guy's face but he's definitely not wearing a mask," she said, pausing for a moment as she squinted up, trying to distinguish any closer details. "And besides, what kind of ANBU member wears _orange?_" The Yamanaka girl huffed dismissively. "Total fashion disaster."

"Orange?" Choji repeated, bewildered. "Do you know any ninja that wears orange, Shikamaru?"

The shadow user snorted. "You're seriously saying you can't think of _anyone_?"

"… Well, I guess there's Naruto," said Choji uncertainly. "But isn't he still away on his training assignment?"

"Nah, I saw him with Hinata back in Konoha a couple of days ago and he was on the mission with me to rescue the Kazekage too," answered Shikamaru, scratching the back of his neck idly. "He's still an idiot, but his heart's in the right place and he's definitely improved."

"Wait, you met up with Naruto?" Ino interrupted, noticeably irritated. "And he was on the same mission as you? Why didn't you tell us?"

Shikamaru shrugged lazily. "You never asked."

Ino rolled her eyes at her teammate's customary laid back attitude, then paused for a second, realising just what Shikamaru had said earlier. "Wait, you said Naruto was with Hinata, huh…?" She rubbed her hands together as a crafty grin slowly spread across her face. She could smell gossip.

The Nara boy felt an ominous shiver of foreboding. He knew that look from a mile away. Ino was scheming something, he was sure of it.

Taking a deep breath, the ponytailed girl shouted, "Hey, Naruto! Down here!" and began waving her arms to attract his attention.

From his vantage point overlooking Konoha, Naruto heard her voice and looked down with surprise, noticing the members of Team Ten were waiting in the middle of the street and peering up at him. He grinned widely at their presence and dropped to the ground alongside his former classmates.

"Hey, Choji, Ino, how've you been? I haven't seen you both in ages!" he exclaimed, taking in their new appearances. Choji was wearing some sort of thick body armour, which combined with his huge size would have made the Akimichi boy look threatening if it weren't for the friendly smile and slight smears of what looked to Naruto like barbeque sauce spread over the markings on his cheeks. Ino's purple outfit, on the other hand, made the ramen loving ninja wonder just how he hadn't seen her from the rooftops – it clashed vibrantly with her long, blonde hair and could hardly fail to be noticed.

"Hi there Naruto, welcome back to Konoha," Choji greeted him. "I bet you've already been to Ichiraku's, right?"

"Yeah, it hasn't changed a bit," Naruto grinned. "The ramen is as good as ever! You guys should join me there for lunch some time."

Seeing Choji's eyes light up at the thought of more food, Ino interrupted, wanting to steer the conversation in a different direction. "So, Naruto, Shikamaru tells me that you were with Hinata on your first day back in the village," she said in the sweetest voice she could muster. "How did that go?"

"Oh, yeah, it was good," replied Naruto, smiling lopsidedly as he thought back to the fun they'd had. "We had some ramen and she showed me around the village. She was waiting for me at the gates as well, which was really nice of her. I don't really get why she did that, but I enjoyed hanging out with her."

Ino's smile became a smirk._ 'Yes! I knew there was something going on!'_ she thought triumphantly. _'Next time I see Hinata I'm gonna have some interesting questions to ask her…'_

However, before she could respond to what Naruto had said the spiky haired ninja spoke up again. "By the way, speaking of Hinata-chan, have any of you guys seen her around today? I was just about to try and find her to ask her something."

Ino blinked, surprised by this new turn of events. "Oh? What do you need to talk to her about?" she queried, genuinely curious.

"Tsunade-baachan's just given me another new mission," said Naruto proudly, poking a thumb at his chest importantly, "And I wanted to see if she could be a part of the team too." He paused and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I dunno why, but when I was thinking about people I'd want to have on the mission with me, for some reason I thought of her first."

"Why're you asking for Hinata and not someone else?" asked Choji, puzzled. "If you want someone with the Byakugan wouldn't Neji be the better choice?"

From the expression on Ino's face Naruto could tell that she was equally as sceptical and the orange clad ninja scowled at the insinuation that Hinata was weak. It reminded him of how Neji had treated her back in the Chuunin Exams, as though she was too feeble to stand up for herself and fight, and he didn't like it at all.

Naruto opened his mouth to yell at Ino and Choji, but to his surprise it was Shikamaru that spoke up first. "Y'know, in the mission that Naruto and I just came back from, Hinata fought against an S-rank missing nin from the Akatsuki," he commented idly, hands clasped behind his head. "Just the fact that she's still alive shows she must be stronger than you think."

Naruto felt a sort of fierce satisfaction as he saw Ino's eyebrows shoot upwards with blatant surprise and Choji's jaw drop. In his opinion people that underestimated his friends, especially someone that tried as hard as Hinata did to become stronger, should be put straight.

The Akimichi boy shuffled his feet awkwardly and looked up at Naruto apologetically. "Ah, sorry. If you saw her in action on the mission then I guess you have a better idea of how strong she is than I do."

Seeing that Ino looked suitably regretful as well, Naruto laughed it off. "Nah, it's no big deal. I just think us rookies should stick up for each other, y'know?"

Choji nodded. "Yeah, that's true. I guess we've all been underestimated at some stage or another, but we've risen above it. Plenty of people have thought that a big boned guy like me can't be a great ninja, but I'm gonna prove them wrong!"

Ino snorted as both Naruto and Shikamaru chuckled. "You guys are so immature…" she muttered, brushing a loose strand of hair out of her eyes. "I really don't see what's so –" the blonde haired girl paused mid-sentence as a thought struck her. "Oh, wait a second, I've just remembered something. You said you were looking for Hinata, right Naruto? I don't know where she is at the moment, but I think I saw Shino walking past the barbeque restaurant a little while ago; maybe he'd know. He was probably on the way to his team's usual meeting point, at the crossroads just a bit further down the high street, so you could ask him."

Shikamaru groaned. "Ino, were you watching everyone whilst we were eating? You can be such a troublesome busybody sometimes…" Seeing his teammate whirl around angrily, he raised his hands defensively. "Hey, it's not a bad idea though. Hinata might be there with the rest of her team and even if she isn't then Kiba or Shino will probably know where to find her. It's a good place to start, at the very least."

"Yeah, that makes sense," said Naruto enthusiastically, grinning widely. "Thanks guys, I owe you one! See you soon!" With that, the blonde haired boy ran off, waving over his shoulder briefly before disappearing around a corner.

Ino shook her head as she watched him go. "Does he ever slow down?" she asked rhetorically, turning to face Shikamaru and Choji again. "I thought he would have grown up at least a little bit whilst he was away."

The Nara boy smiled wryly. "This is Naruto we're talking about. The chances of him ever growing up are practically zero." He paused for a moment, looking up at the wispy white clouds floating gently across the calm, blue sky. "I'm kinda glad he hasn't changed though. If he were any different, he just wouldn't be Naruto."

Choji nodded sagely. "He's our friend," he said simply. "That's all that matters."

"I suppose so," Ino conceded, sighing. "He's still an idiot though. And, more importantly, we still have to meet up with Asuma-sensei! Now come on, no more talking!"

Ignoring the reactions of both her teammates, the ponytailed girl grabbed them by the arm and began dragging them in the direction of the training ground, fretting about how late they were and how angry Asuma-sensei was going to be. Choji opened his mouth to protest but Shikamaru shook his head, still staring up at the sky. When the Yamanaka girl was in this sort of mood it was best to just go along with it, just like the clouds he envied so much.

-o-o-

Hinata smiled as she exited the Hyuuga complex, nodding politely at the austere gatekeepers on guard duty. She was looking forward to the day ahead of her; today was her first full day back in Konoha after returning from the mission to Suna yesterday and she was anticipating reuniting with the rest of her team. _'It will be nice to see Kiba-kun and Shino-kun again,'_ she thought fondly to herself as she slowly walked through the streets of Konoha, enjoying the morning sunshine. _'And I hope Kurenai-sensei is feeling better now.'_

As she thought of those that she considered her second family, her thoughts drifted back to the reactions of her real family when she had arrived back home. After she and Neji had said their goodbyes and separated from the rest of their group once they reached the gates of Konoha, they had both entered the Hyuuga complex. As Hinata had walked through the wide doors of the main hall her younger sister, Hanabi, had greeted her formally, but had laughed when Hinata had pushed decorum aside and swept her up in a hug.

"Neechan, you stink!" the younger girl had giggled, wrinkling her nose and fighting her way out of her sister's grip.

Hinata smiled tenderly. Although she had been forced to compete against her sister in the past, she still loved Hanabi dearly and always missed her whenever they were separated. "Hanabi-chan, how are you?"

"Father's been teaching me some new Jyuuken moves and I've been on a few minor D-rank missions with my team, but it's been so boring," Hanabi complained, scowling. "And, even worse, next week sensei said my genin team and Ebisu-sensei's squad are doing a survival exercise together."

"With your skills, that assignment appears relatively straightforward," Neji commented. "Are you objecting to the extra training?"

"It's not the survival exercise, it's that complete _idiot_ on Ebisu-sensei's team that I have to work with, Konohamaru," replied Hanabi, her scowl deepening. "He was such a clown back at the Academy, I don't know how he graduated at all. He scraped through with the lowest marks in the whole class."

"Isn't Konohamaru-san the grandson of the Sandaime?" asked Hinata cautiously, mindful of her younger sister's stubbornness.

Hanabi snorted. "That makes him even more annoying! He has a noble background, but chooses to ignore it and never shows anyone any respect. I've no idea how Iruka-sensei managed to put up with him in lessons."

"Hanabi-chan, you should at least try to get along with him," said Hinata reproachfully. "You'll need to work with him for the training exercise to be successful. And who knows? Maybe if you g-get to know how a little better you'll find he's not as bad as you thought."

"Hmph! Somehow I doubt that!" grumbled Hanabi. "I'll work with him because I have no choice, but I definitely won't like it!"

Hinata smiled at her sister's inflexibility. Hanabi may have been raised as a Hyuuga, and at times she could certainly be refined and precise, but underneath it all she was still very much a pre-teen girl.

Hinata hugged her sister once again and was about to head for the bathroom – Hanabi was right, the return trip from Suna had left her tired and dirty and she was looking forward to a long, relaxing shower – when a voice behind her made her stop in her tracks.

"Welcome home, Hinata, Neji."

Hinata's eyes widened with surprise and she quickly turned to face the speaker, bowing low. "Thank you, Otou-sama…" she answered, a little embarrassed at her failure to notice him immediately. Her cousin also inclined his head at the Hyuuga clan's leader respectfully.

Hinata felt awkward in the presence of her father still wearing her dirty mission clothes and planned to slip away as quickly as possible, but her hopes were dashed when Hiashi had asked, "Neji, Hanabi, may I ask that you excuse us for a moment? I wish to speak with Hinata alone… so long as she is willing, of course."

Hinata blinked with surprise at her father's words. She knew that since Naruto's fight against Neji he had become more open around his daughters and his nephew, but _asking_ for her to talk with him rather than _ordering_? It seemed very out of place. Seeing her father raise a questioning eyebrow at her silence, she blushed and nodded hesitantly, shooting a panicked look in her sister's direction, who merely shrugged minutely, seemingly as confused as she was by the Hyuuga clan head's sudden interest in her.

Not wanting to keep Hiashi waiting, Neji and Hanabi bowed and exited the hallway. As the sound of their footsteps slowly receded into the distance, Hinata bit her lip, feeling a little apprehensive now that she was alone under the keen eye of the clan leader. Trying to hide her nerves, she started to walk down the corridor to her father's study, where all private meetings normally took place, but upon hearing Hiashi cough meaningfully at her she realised that they must be discussing matters here in the hallway instead. Now even more confused, she almost opened her mouth to ask about this surprising new setting for their conversation, but upon thinking it over for a moment she decided that perhaps it was for the best. All the previous times she had been summoned to her father's study had been on occasions when he had been dissatisfied with her private training and the room was imposing even on its own; full of Hyuuga family heirlooms and ancient scrolls depicting the family's traditional taijutsu style. Maybe a discussion in a more informal setting, without the overbearing atmosphere that she was so used to, meant that she wasn't being judged against this time?

However, as the silence grew, Hinata had to fight the urge to press her index fingers together. Hiashi was staring appraisingly at her, his gaze not faltering even slightly and his white Byakugan eyes impossible to read. She wanted to shuffle her feet at the sensation of being scrutinized so thoroughly, but instead she straightened her back slightly and met his gaze. _'I'm not a little girl anymore,'_ she reminded herself as firmly as she could, staring levelly back at him. _'I don't need to feel intimidated in Otou-sama's presence.'_

Hiashi smiled almost inperceptibly at Hinata's newfound boldness. "You seem… different," he commented lightly, studying her closely. "Your mission went well, I trust? Being included in the team to rescue the Kazekage was a great honour."

"Yes, the m-mission was successful," Hinata answered, keeping her voice as steady as possible. "We managed to recover Kazekage-sama and return him to Suna safely. There was s-some conflict with the Akatsuki, though…"

Hiashi jerked his head up, eyes alert, and frowned. "The Akatsuki were involved in this mission? You mean to say that they were the ones responsible for kidnapping the Kazekage from Suna?" Seeing his daughter nod, Hiashi's frown deepened. "No wonder this was an S-class mission… It was common knowledge that the Kazekage was captured and I knew the kidnappers must have been highly skilled to defeat a Kage in his own village, but to think that they were part of that organisation…" Hiashi shook his head, the lines in his face shifting slowly, like continental plates.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you about it before we left…" said Hinata in a small voice. "But the mission was classified…"

Hiashi waved away her concerns. "I understand, even the Hyuuga clan is bound by the codes of conduct for all Konoha shinobi. And besides, perhaps it is for the best that you did not inform me of the Akatsuki's influence in proceedings. I would have worried about your safety more than ever if I had known that criminals of that calibre were opposing you."

Hinata's eyes widened and she had to stifle a gasp. "You were… you were w-worried about me?" she asked hesitantly. Her father may have become less cold over the years, but he had never said anything like this to her before, not even once. He had always seemed firm and immovable, like a craggy, snow-capped mountain; hearing him admit that he worried about her left Hinata momentarily speechless. As his words slowly sunk in her heart swelled up with joy. _'Otou-sama…he cares!' _she thought, delighted. _'He really does care!'_

Hiashi furrowed his brows, confused by her reaction. "Of course I was worried. You are my daughter; it is only natural that I worry about you. I –" Whatever else Hiashi was about to say was lost as Hinata threw her arms around him, sniffling tearfully but smiling as widely as she could ever remember. The Hyuuga clan head went stiff and blinked with surprise, unsure how to react at first, but after a moment he softened and smiled tentatively, hugging his daughter back for the first time in many, many years.

"I am sorry, Hinata," he whispered as she drew back, his own eyes slightly moist. "I should have been a better father for you in the past. After your mother…" He swallowed and continued hoarsely, "After your mother… died… I acted as the Hyuuga clan's leader, at the time when you most needed me to be a father. It was wrong of me to expect so much from you at such an early age. I should have let you develop at your own pace." Hiashi let out a sigh and gazed at his daughter with sad eyes. "A daughter should never be forced to prove her worth to her family. After all, I can see your worth right now, standing before me. And despite all the mistakes I made, all the loneliness I put you through… I couldn't be more proud of you. Please don't ever think otherwise."

Hinata wiped her eyes and shook her head vehemently. "Otou-sama, thank you… but there is n-nothing to forgive," she said, her voice quivering slightly but her eyes bright and shining. "I could never be angry with you. You believed you were doing the right thing. And I think you have been a f-fine leader of our clan."

Hiashi gazed at her in silence for a moment, absorbing the features of her honest face. "Thank you, my daughter," he said softly. "You have a heart as kind as any I have ever known. The only person I can think of that could equal you would be your mother…"

Hinata nodded wordlessly, a lump in her throat. Unbidden, a memory of a family portrait popped into her head, in which her father had an arm around his wife, holding her close to him as she held a very young Hinata in her arms. She still had the old album in which it was kept, enclosed in the faded pages of the past, and it was one of Hinata's earliest memories. It was also one of the few times she could ever remember Hiashi smiling as openly as he was now, as though he was at peace with both himself and the world around him.

Lost in her memories, Hinata jumped as her father spoke once again. "If your mother could see you now, I'm sure she would be very proud of you too…" He smiled wistfully at the memories of his wife, then clicked his fingers. "Ah, but we were still discussing your mission, correct? Please, continue."

Her heart feeling as light as a feather after her father's newly revealed feelings, Hinata began summarising the rest of the events of the mission. She felt a little awkward speaking in front of him at first, especially after his admission of his past mistakes, but as she relaxed the words seemed to tumble from her mouth without pause, like a bubbling spring. Admittedly she stumbled over the moments that involved Naruto as briefly as she could, unable to prevent her blush as she told her father about the blonde haired boy's enthusiastic encouragement, but aside from that it was surprisingly easy to let the words flow naturally. Hiashi didn't interrupt her at all, letting continue her tale at her own pace, though Hinata noticed that when she described Chiyo's demise and her brutal fight with Sasori he seemed to be forcibly restraining himself from speaking out. However, he managed to prevent himself from talking over her, much to Hinata's relief; now that she had started talking it was a massive load off her mind just to let it all out. It felt like now that she had started she couldn't have stopped even if she tried.

"… And then we returned home," Hinata finished, gazing down at the floor and waiting for her father's response. Her whole body felt as though it was faintly buzzing with a thousand different emotions now that she had explained everything and she felt the urge to fidget, but she tried to remain calm – after everything the Hyuuga clan head had said, it would be disrespectful to show any sign of impatience.

Hiashi pondered over the description of the mission for a few moments, eyes clouded over, before shaking his head, bewildered. "Hinata, engaging in combat with a missing nin of Akasuna no Sasori's standard was incredibly dangerous; his reputation is almost legendary, even here in Konoha. You could have been killed. If the Kazekage had been even a second or two slower in recovering, you _would_ have been killed. When Chiyo offered you a way out, what on Earth possessed you not to take it?"

"I couldn't have just left Chiyo-baasama alone!" Hinata protested, hands gripping the hem of her jacket tightly. "She n-needed my help… I could never bring myself to run away when someone is depending on me…"

Hiashi sighed. "Somehow I knew you would say that…" he said tiredly, his forehead creasing with frown lines. "But I hope you don't ever change." Seeing his eldest daughter blush at his additional praise, he laughed shortly. "Though it may be inadvisable to fight an opponent that outmatches you, I admire your newfound determination, Hinata. I take it that this inner strength stems from Uzumaki Naruto's influence on you, yes?" The Hyuuga clan head smiled knowingly as Hinata's blush darkened. "Well, I must return to my study now. I will see you at dinner."

Nodding a goodbye, Hiashi had turned and walked out of the hallway, leaving Hinata with endless questions and feeling just as confused as she had at the start of the conversation. In spite of his enigmatic exit she had received no further answers during their evening meal, with Hiashi making small talk with his daughters and nephew, and Hinata didn't feel even remotely ready to bring up Naruto's name in front of him herself. Even thinking about it that night, as she tried to sleep, had done her no good. Her mind was overloaded with queries that she couldn't even begin to answer. How did her father know about her affection for the orange clad boy? And did he know how far her feelings extended? Did he approve of Naruto? If he did approve, was he basing his view on from what he had seen of Naruto with his own eyes, such as the fight against Neji in the Chuunin Exams, or had he figured things out from what she had said about the mission to Suna? Hinata honestly didn't know. Even now, walking towards her team's usual meeting point, she had many more questions than answers.

'_Maybe Otou-sama was teasing me?'_ she wondered. _'But I don't understand how he knew about Naruto-kun in the first place… It's so embarrassing! I –'_

Hinata was jerked from her thoughts as she heard a shout of, "Oi, Hinata, I didn't know you were back!" followed by a loud bark and the fall of footsteps from behind her. The quiet Hyuuga girl turned as she recognised the voice of her teammate, Inuzuka Kiba. The dog user was jogging down the street to catch up with her, Akamaru padding faithfully by his side as always.

"Oh, good morning, Kiba-kun, how are you?" she greeted him as he caught up. Bending down, she gave Akamaru a quick scratch behind his floppy ears and the large dog whined pleasantly.

Kiba grinned, his sharp canines showing. "Not too bad. I did a couple of C-rank missions whilst you were away and managed to fit in some training. Oh yeah, and I kicked Shino's ass when we were sparring the other day as well."

"Shino-kun wasn't angry, was he?" Hinata asked worriedly. Despite the Aburame clan member's stoic attitude, she knew that he was more competitive than he let on and disliked losing.

Kiba shrugged. "Kinda. Well, I think so – I couldn't really tell, what with that big collar he wears." The Inuzuka boy smirked at Hinata's questioning look. "Akamaru used the Dynamic Marking technique and splashed his glasses so he couldn't see," he explained, grinning devilishly. "Then we sent him flying with a Juujin Bunshin, right boy?"

Hinata hid a smile behind her hand at Kiba's boasting, not wanting to laugh at her bug using teammate's misfortune, as Akamaru let out a bark of confirmation. Kiba ruffled the large canine's sleek, white fur absently as he turned off the side road and onto the high street, with Hinata walking alongside him as they neared their usual meeting point.

Suddenly Akamaru began snuffling at the ground and nudged Kiba with his nose, his tongue hanging out in what looked like the canine equivalent of a silly grin. Kiba frowned and sniffed at the air himself, puzzled.

"Is something wrong, Kiba-kun?" asked Hinata, watching her teammate pause and continue to sniff at the air, clearly trying to catch a scent of some sort.

"Dunno," Kiba replied, bewildered. "Shino's scent is up ahead, like always, but there's someone else with him and it's not Kurenai-sensei. It's really weird – I thought I knew every person's scent in the whole village, but this one I can't quite put my finger on. I know it, I'm certain, but I can't remember where from…" Kiba scowled momentarily before his eyes lit up with recognition and he slapped a palm to his forehead. "I should have known," he groaned. "He's the only guy I know that smells like ramen! C'mon, let's go, Akamaru! Oh and try not to faint around him this time, Hinata!"

With a teasing grin he leapt onto the shaggy dog's back and the canine ran down the street towards Team Eight's usual meeting point at the crossroads, yapping enthusiastically. Hinata hovered uncertainly for a moment, but then her eyes widened as she realised who the Inuzuka boy was talking about.

"Kiba-kun! I w-won't be like that around him any more!" she called after her departing teammate desperately. "I'll be fine this time, r-really!" A hearty bark of laughter from Kiba was the only response she received.

She was about to follow her teammate, but before she did she hesitated for a moment in the middle of the street, taking a deep breath to compose herself. "Naruto-kun… here?" she whispered, torn between a mixture of confusion and pleasure. Having the chance to see him again, especially so soon after their mission together had ended, was a big surprise, but she was hardly going to pass such an opportunity up, so she hurried after Kiba as quickly as she could.

As she got closer to the crossroads, Hinata recognised the sound of Shino's clipped voice speaking. "It is not right to forget the faces of your comrades," she heard him say tersely, sounding surprisingly agitated when considering his usual attitude "And why is that? It is because it implies that you have also forgotten the faith and trust your allies have placed in you on various missions… and it is disrespectful to the one that remembered you…"

The Hyuuga girl couldn't help but smile as she heard Naruto's typically tactless but honest response. "I've already said I was sorry! And besides, how was I supposed to recognise you when you're hiding behind that cloak and those glasses? I can't even see your face!"

"You miss my point," Shino countered sullenly. From his tone of voice Hinata wondered if he was sulking; he sounded slightly petulant at the very least. "It is the principle that must be adhered to. In the spirit of comradeship and teamwork, allies should not forget other allies."

Before the argument could develop any further, Kiba chose to announce his presence. "Hey, Naruto, stop annoying Shino," he grinned, gazing down from on top of Akamaru. "That's my job!"

Naruto's jaw dropped as he turned to face Kiba and caught sight of his canine companion. "Oh, hey, Kiba! And… no way, is that Akamaru? He's huge! How did he get so big?"

"Huh?" Kiba frowned, jumping off his dog's back and staring at the shaggy white hound. "What d'you mean by that? Akamaru's always been like this."

Naruto gaped at the Inuzuka clan member incredulously. "Are you kidding? He used to sit on your head when he was a puppy! Now you're the one riding on top of him!"

"Oh yeah, that's right…" said Kiba, scratching his chin thoughtfully. "I guess I've been hanging around Akamaru for so long I hadn't really noticed the difference."

"How can you not have noticed?" Naruto asked, disbelief written all over his face at Kiba's answer. "Akamaru's like a horse now!"

Akamaru let out a friendly bark as Shino scowled darkly under his collar. "You recognised Kiba straight away, Naruto…"

Naruto raised his hands defensively but before he could say anything he heard a soft but insistent voice speak up first. "Ano… I'm sure N-Naruto-kun didn't mean it, Shino-kun."

Hearing the voice, Naruto craned his neck and noticed Hinata standing a short distance behind Kiba, her worried eyes flickering from Shino to himself. "Oh, there you are Hinata-chan!" he called cheerfully, his previous irritation forgotten as he waved at her, not noticing her blush as she shyly waved her own greeting. "I was just about to ask Shino where you were."

Hinata's blush deepened as she noticed Kiba smirk at her, wiggling his eyebrows in her direction. "You were… l-looking for me, Naruto-kun?" she asked, trying to keep her heartbeat steady as she spoke.

Naruto grinned. "Yeah, I wanted to ask you somethi –"

The blonde haired boy's words were cut short as something black and white leapt through the air, with what looked like a pair of razor sharp claws outstretched and ready to slice into him. Hinata's eyes widened and she shouted a panicked warning, but it was too late – the strange creature bounded forward before Naruto even had a chance to raise his arms in defence and made a vicious slash at his face.

However, before the creature could connect Kiba dived forward and shoved Naruto out of the way. The orange clad boy was sent sprawling to the floor but the creature's swipe passed harmlessly over his head. Landing on all fours it veered sharply and charged at Naruto once again, racing forward with long strides, but before it could reach him a droning swarm of insects emerged from Shino's cloak and buzzed incessantly around the creature's eyes to obscure its vision.

Naruto and Kiba scrambled back to their feet as the strange animal tried to swat the insects away with a mighty forepaw. Looking closer, Naruto realised that the creature was a lion of some sort, with a long, shaggy mane and a set of sharp teeth in between its powerful jaws, but the lack of colour meant that it surely wasn't a real, living animal. Could it have been summoned somehow?

Shino's insects continued to swarm around the creature, biting and stinging without pause, and it stumbled, falling to the ground. Immediately Akarmaru was on top of it, digging his claws in and growling ferociously as he savagely bit into the monochromatic lion's neck. The creature stiffened, twitched feebly… and then dissolved into a puddle of black ink, staining Akamaru's white fur and pooling in the middle of the street. Shino's bugs retreated back to their host and Akamaru shook himself dry, trying to shed some of the excess ink.

"Hinata!" Shino snapped, taking command of the situation "This creature is a construct of both ink and chakra. Where is the one that summoned it? We need to detain the perpetrator before he or she can cause any further damage."

The Hyuuga girl's Byakugan was already active as she swiftly scanned the surrounding area for a sign of its summoner. "Over there!" she exclaimed, pointing down the street to the top of a fence, where a dark haired boy of maybe a few years older than herself was perched, appearing totally unconcerned. He was wearing a shirt that came down to his midriff, with a short sword strapped to his back, and had skin so pale it almost looked unhealthy, as though he had lived his entire life without ever going out in the sun. In his left hand he carried a scroll, unfurled across his knees, and in his right was a brush, and he appeared to be sketching something, judging by the way the tip was moving rapidly across the page.

"Hey, you're wearing a Konoha hitai-ite!" shouted Naruto, staring angrily at the boy. "What's the big idea, attacking us like that?"

The dark haired boy smiled pleasantly at Naruto. "Hello, it's nice to meet you. I think I'm going to call you… Dickless."

Hinata let out a mortified squeak at his choice of nickname as Naruto flushed a dark shade of red at the insult. His face burned even brighter as Kiba bit back a snigger and he turned on his friend, painfully embarrassed. "Can it, dogbreath!" he yelled fiercely, trying to hide his humiliation. "That wasn't funny and you damn well know it!"

Kiba smirked. "Yeah, but it was accurate. 'Dickless,' huh?"

Naruto snarled and raised a fist threateningly, but he felt a hand on his shoulder before he could strike at Kiba. "N-No, Naruto-kun," Hinata whispered, her eyes worried but her tone of voice leaving no room for argument. "We all need to work together, remember?"

Scowling darkly at Kiba, but nonetheless pausing momentarily to consider her words, Naruto sighed with frustration before taking a deep breath to keep a hold of his temper and reluctantly lowering his fist. Noticing Hinata still looked slightly anxious that he might raise a hand against her teammate again, Naruto flashed a reassuring grin at her, and she smiled hesitantly back at him and let go of his shoulder, her face reddening slightly as she released him from her grip. Noticing that Kiba was still smirking, she stared reproachfully at the Inuzuka boy, who merely shrugged apologetically under her gaze.

The mysterious Konoha ninja turned his focus on Kiba next, observing him appraisingly. "And I think I'll call you… Pussy."

The dog lover's jaw dropped and his hands clenched into fists as Akamaru growled fiercely, hackles rising. "That's it, this guy is _dead!_" Kiba hissed, the war markings on his face appearing even more feral than usual. "No-one gets away with insulting us like that, right Akamaru?" The big dog let out an answering bark so loud that it made the hair on the back of Hinata's neck stand on end.

Seeing that Naruto and Kiba now looked reunited in their desire to capture the dark haired boy, both glaring at him hatefully, Hinata refocused her attention on the ninja perched atop the fence, gathered her courage and stepped forward to face him. "You shouldn't say such things to Naruto-kun and Kiba-kun!" she said fiercely, with as much authority as she could muster. "They have done nothing to provoke you and Naruto-kun is _not _dickless!"

Realising that she had almost shouted the last word she clapped her hands over her mouth and blushed scarlet, glancing over at Naruto with embarrassment. The blonde haired boy was staring at her with obvious surprise, eyebrows raised at her unexpected outburst, but unless she was imagining it Hinata could have sworn that he looked ever so slightly pleased too, as if he were happy that she was sticking up for him. The thought made Hinata's blush burn even brighter, but she tried to keep her composure and turned back to face the boy to question him. "Who are y-you? Why did you start attacking us just n-now?"

The dark haired boy smiled again, but studying his face closely with her family's kekkei genkai Hinata could tell that it looked as though it was… fake. It didn't quite seem to reach his eyes and his face was twisted in a way that appeared ever so slightly unnatural, as though his muscles weren't quite used to it. "Hmm…" he pondered aloud, tapping his brush against his chin thoughtfully. "I think your nickname can be… Weirdo."

'_Weirdo.' _The word echoed hollowly in Hinata's mind as her face drained of colour, remembering how Naruto had once called her the exact same thing. She felt like she wanted the ground to swallow her up. Did this strange boy's observation of her character mean that she hadn't changed at all over the years, despite all the effort she had put into trying to become stronger? That she was still a 'weirdo,' just like she had been when she was younger?

However, before she could let her insecurities take a grip on her, Hinata noticed the expressions of her friends. Shino's eyes were narrowed fractionally behind his glasses as he stared up at the strange Konoha ninja, his disapproval obvious despite his usual secrecy when it came to displaying emotion, and Kiba's teeth were bared in an angry snarl. But most striking of all was Naruto's reaction. "Shut _up_, you bastard!" he yelled vehemently, pointing at the boy. "What makes you think you can just sit there and just pass judgements like you know us?"

"Damn right!" Kiba grinned ferally. "When I get my hands on you, I'm gonna shove those words down your throat!"

Shino nodded his assent. "Though the method of communication chosen by both Naruto and Kiba is unnecessarily crude, I share their sentiments. You have no right to belittle any of us."

Hearing the reactions of her friends, Hinata shook her head, annoyed by her sudden insecurity. No, she knew she wasn't the same girl that she had been in the past. She was a chuunin now. She had practiced hard in training and completed many missions successfully. She had even gained her father's respect and affection. And, most importantly of all, Naruto had said that he thought she had changed.

"Belittle?" the boy queried politely. "Oh no, I think you misunderstand me; I was making an honest observation. I've heard that calling people a nickname based on either their personality or their physical appearance creates a closer relationship with them."

"Enough talk!" Kiba grunted impatiently. "Let's finish this guy! Go, Akamaru! **Gatsuuga!**"

The large canine and its owner both dropped down to all fours, teeth bared, and launched themselves forward in tandem towards the fence, spinning like drills. The pale boy quickly scrawled something on the scroll he was holding and muttered, **"Ninpou: Chojuu Giga!"**

Immediately a series of black and white outlines burst from the page, solidifying into a dozen lions similar to the one summoned earlier. Kiba and Akamaru each barrelled into one of them each, dispersing them into a cloud of ink, but were immediately surrounded by the others as the summoned beasts closed ranks, trying to isolate the Inuzuka clan member from his trusty companion.

However, before Kiba and Akamaru were cut off from each other Naruto and Hinata both ran forward to help. The Hyuuga girl pivoted around a fierce slash from the forepaws of one of the creatures and jabbed at its shoulder joint with her Jyuuken, following up with a chakra infused strike to the beast's forehead that dissolved it into a pool of black. Naruto, meanwhile, quickly summoned a shadow clone and began to spiral his chakra at his fingertips, with the Kage Bunshin's help. As one of the lions pounced at him a large, compact ball of blue light materialised in the palm of his hand and he rammed it right into the creature's face with a roar of, **"Oodama Rasengan!"** The force of the jutsu made the lion explode in a shower of ink, splattering his orange jacket and soaking him almost from head to toe, but Naruto quickly wiped his eyes and pulled a kunai out of his pocket, re-joining the fight.

As he slashed at another of the beasts with the blade, driving it back, Naruto heard the sound of frenzied growling and felt something barge into the back of his legs and knock his clone over too, causing it to dispel. Losing his balance and falling heavily to the floor, he turned to see Akamaru and one of the ink creations thrashing across the ground right behind him, locked together and both biting and clawing at each other without conceding any ground. Rubbing his elbow, where he had landed painfully, he looked up, only to see the creature he had just been fighting before the interruption rear up on its hind legs, about to crush him under its weight. Panicking slightly, Naruto tried to get out of the way, scrambling backwards on his hands and knees, but in the chaos of the fight there was no room to manoeuvre. Its paws spread wide, the colourless beast began to fall, mouth agape in a noiseless snarl… but then it was knocked to the ground and ruptured as Hinata slammed a Jyuuken palm strike into its side.

"Naruto-kun, are you ok?" she asked anxiously, standing over him as he got back to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks Hinata-chan," he grunted, scowling at his momentary lapse in concentration and picking up the kunai he had dropped when he had fallen. "Where's the guy that keeps summoning these damn things?"

Hinata took a second to refocus her Byakugan and her vision became an overhead view. "He's still on the fence," she replied, pointing, "But he's drawing some m-more shapes onto his scroll, so he m-must be forming more creatures."

"Crap!" Naruto cursed. "We've gotta stop him, or else we'll never win at this rate!" He forced his way out of the melee, throwing a cluster of shuriken to clear a path for himself between the remaining lions, and reached for another handful to hurl at the dark haired boy. However, before he could, a cloud of insects flew out of Shino's sleeves at the artistic ninja, forcing him to abandon his sketches and drop down to the ground, where he would have greater manoeuvrability and more of a chance to defend himself from the swarm without losing his balance. He unsheathed the ninjato blade on his back and settled into a defensive posture with his back to the wooden fence as the Aburame boy stepped towards him. Shino's bugs were buzzing ominously around his cloak, but the pale skinned boy didn't look particularly worried about being backed into a corner.

"You are finished," intoned Shino monotonously. **"Mushi Dama no Jutsu!" **The ground beneath the strange ninja began to fracture slightly and out of it poured quite literally hundreds of kikaichu bugs, which swarmed over the startled boy in a matter of seconds, surrounding him in a whirling, buzzing sphere for a few seconds before tightening around him like a net. At first the unknown Konoha ninja tried to swat them off with the blunt edge of his sword, but realising it was hopeless he sheathed his blade and stood perfectly still, allowing his ink creatures to dissipate as well. Naruto, Hinata and Kiba looked around warily at the newly formed puddles of ink where the beasts had stood moments before, but relaxed and gathered around Shino as they noticed the boy was captured, with bugs totally covering him from the neck downwards.

Kiba whistled with admiration. "Wow, nice one Shino. He's not going anywhere."

"Hmm, this is an unusual technique," the boy commented, ignoring Kiba and casually addressing his captor. "I take it you planned all along to force me away from the fence and onto the ground beneath it, where you had your insects waiting to burrow through?"

"Correct," Shino replied, adjusting his dark glasses. "Now, you shall accompany us to Hokage-sama's office. I am sure that the Interrogation Squad will have multiple questions for you after this public display of aggression."

The boy shook his head. "I'm afraid not," he said pleasantly. Shino's eyebrows furrowed darkly and he waved a hand, allowing his bugs to scuttle up his neck and onto his face, but the dark haired boy didn't elaborate any further or show any sign of squeamishness, instead turning his gaze to Naruto. "I'll see you again, Dickless," he announced, smiling in the same, lifeless manner as before, despite the bugs that were crawling over his bare skin. **"Sumi Bunshin no Jutsu!"** And as the bugs slowly began to creep across his face, leaving only his smile visible, he vanished into thin air, leaving behind only a wispy trail of ink.

"What?" shouted Naruto, looking around wildly. "It was an ink clone? Where'd he go?"

Hinata scanned the surrounding area with her Byakugan, before turning to her friends, crestfallen. "I d-don't see him anywhere. He's gone…"

"Damn it!" growled Kiba with annoyance. "How the Hell did he fool us all with that clone? Even with my nose I never realised. What about you Shino, did you see any difference?" He turned to his bug using teammate expectantly, but the Aburame clan member remained silent.

"Uh, Shino?" Kiba questioned curiously. "Are you sulking again?"

"… He never gave me a nickname…" Shino muttered disappointedly.

**Author's Notes:** Well, I don't know about you guys out there, but this chapter was great fun for me! Adding in the members of the Konoha Rookie Eleven that I hadn't given much time to, such as most of Team's Eight and Ten, was really enjoyable – it's a pity they don't get more panel time in the manga because they really do have some awesome potential for interaction and are just genuinely great characters. Onto the notes for this chapter, Sai's introduction was difficult because I didn't quite know how to gauge Hinata's reaction to his 'friendly nicknames.' Originally I had planned for her to be far more embarrassed, but a few reviews made me rethink things a little. A couple of people said they expected Sai to, and I quote, "Feel Hinata's wrath!" so I reconsidered how she would react, making it a bit more balanced with elements of both her shyness and her protective attitude towards anyone looking to hurt her friends coming to the fore. I wasn't certain at first, but looking over it I'm much happier with this version, it feels much more natural and realistic to me. Not to mention the idea of innocent, quiet Hinata shouting out 'dickless' was just hilarious! However, it wasn't just because of Hinata that I chose the confrontation with Sai to be with Team Eight rather than canon's version with Team Ten – I wanted to make it work as a whole scene, not focusing solely on Hinata. Sai's insult to Kiba made me chuckle when I thought of it (yay for double meaning puns!) and, of course, poor ignored Shino! Hanabi and Hiashi were tricky to write out as well – I've been debating for a while whether I should put them into the story now or later, but the moment just felt right to reveal a bit more about Hinata's home life and add some closure to her past family problems. I don't really know how well I did at keeping them in character though, seeing as they've both had so little development in canon; Hanabi is basically an open book and Hiashi hasn't really got much to build on either. I tried to show Hanabi as a slightly snobby but otherwise relatively normal girl, with a competitive streak but also a softer side, and Hiashi as a stern but caring father figure. They were very difficult to write out though, so if you feel I could have done better then feel free to say so. As for the people that are asking when Naruto and Hinata will finally get together, I can only ask for patience. Rest assured that I've got it vaguely planned out, but there's still a lot more development to come and I really don't want to rush it – I've seen some otherwise really good fanfics ruined by awkward, hurried romance. Having the two of them become more and more open around each other is a slow process – Hell, Naruto's only just started seeing her as an attractive girl in the last couple of chapters, that's how dense he is! There will still be plenty of NaruHina moments to look forward to though, so please don't feel like I'm dragging it out just for the sake of it. Oh, one last thing, I'd like to thank my fellow NaruHina fanfiction writer, NessaMoon, for helping this chapter along; she gave me some general input about writing styles and was just an all-round nice person. Her writing is really good too, so I'd highly recommend her work. Well, I think that's all I wanted to say for the Author's Notes, so that's goodbye for now and I hope you're still enjoying reading!

**List of Jutsu:**

'**Gatsuuga' = 'Dual Piercing Fang' **

'**Ninpou: Chojuu Giga' =** **'Ninja Art: Super Beast Imitation Drawing' **

'**Oodama Rasengan' =** **'Big Ball Spiral Sphere' **

'**Mushi Dama no Jutsu' =** **'Insect Sphere Technique' **

'**Sumi Bunshin no Jutsu' =** **'Ink Clone Technique'**

**Joke Corner:**** The police arrested me the other day because I was in possession of a starting pistol. They claimed I was encouraging race crimes.**


	15. There's No 'Sai' in Team

Chapter Fifteen: There's No 'Sai' in Team

Yuuhi Kurenai wasn't easily caught off guard; expecting the unexpected was part of her job as a Konoha kunoichi, after all. But arriving at her former genin team's usual meeting spot to find that what looked like a small war had taken place, with shuriken scattered everywhere and the street covered in pools of what appeared to be ink, was somewhat surprising to say the least. The red eyed jonin was left momentarily speechless as she surveyed the damage in front of her.

As she quickly glanced over her former pupils, relieved to see that none of them appeared to be injured, a flash of orange caught her eye and her forehead creased with even more confusion. For some reason Uzumaki Naruto was standing with her team, splattered with the same ink that was soaking the middle of the road and talking animatedly.

"I still don't understand why he just attacked out of nowhere like that!" the blonde haired boy was saying, gesturing wildly. "I mean, none of us even know him and that headband showed that he was a Konoha ninja too, so we're supposed to be allies. I just don't get it!"

"This is indeed concerning," replied Shino in a monotone, "But whatever his true motives were, I suspect that he was not serious in his attempts to defeat us. After using his ink clone as a decoy he had a perfect opportunity to strike, but he chose not to… which is perhaps even more worrying, as it means he is still on the loose…"

"So he was just toying with us the whole time?" Kiba growled. "Damn it! When I find that slippery little bast–"

Clearing her throat disapprovingly before Kiba could complete his curse, Kurenai attracted the attention of the young ninja. Kiba jumped with surprise and mumbled awkwardly under his sensei's firm gaze as Akamaru sat up and wagged his tail happily in greeting, Shino inclined his head as he noticed her presence, Hinata uttered a slightly embarrassed, "Good morning, Kurenai-sensei," conscious that she was covered in ink, and Naruto stared at the red eyed jonin inquisitively.

Kurenai gestured at the street behind her, getting straight down to business. "What exactly happened here?" she asked authoritatively, though she couldn't quite keep the tiniest hint of curiosity out of her voice too. "You were talking about being attacked?"

"Yeah, some weird guy around about our age with a Konoha hitai-ite picked a fight with us," Kiba explained, scowling. "He used some sort of ink jutsus and summoned a whole bunch of lions from a scroll, but we all thought Shino managed to trap him with his bugs… until he made us look like idiots with an ink clone and got away. I didn't even get the chance to pay that little rat back for that 'Pussy' wisecrack, too…"

Kurenai's eyebrows rose with surprise. Her squad were highly regarded for their tracking abilities – even an experienced team being able to escape from Shino's bugs, Kiba's nose and Hinata's eyes was unusual enough in itself, but a lone, teenage boy managing to give them all the slip? Knowing her team's skills as she did, the boy must have been extremely skilled, of that there was no doubt. And yet his actions didn't make sense; engaging in a fight in the middle of Konoha was reckless to the point of madness, but from the sound of Kiba's description it seemed as though his strategy had been to withdraw all along…

Seeing Naruto nod in agreement with Kiba's description of events, Kurenai abandoned her trail of thought and focused herself. "So, you were caught up in the battle too then, Naruto?" she asked inquisitively, curious as to the reason of the blond boy's presence.

Naruto laughed sheepishly. "Kinda. The pale guy attacked me first and Team Eight backed me up. We made a really good team together!"

Kiba grinned, showing his canine teeth. "We did more than just 'back you up,' dumbass. It was me that saved your ass from that first lion, remember?"

Naruto glared at the Inuzuka boy. "I could've handled it myself!" he said defensively. "And besides, I didn't hear you complaining when you were surrounded by all those summons and me and Hinata-chan came to help you out! If it hadn't been for us then you'd have been toast!"

Hinata's face went slightly pink at hearing Naruto compliment her and Kurenai caught her eye knowingly. Blushing even more brightly, Hinata looked down at the ground, fighting the urge to press her index fingers together.

Kiba snorted at Naruto's words but conceded the point. "Whatever."

"In any case," Kurenai interrupted, rolling her eyes at the typical male bravado on show, "You have my gratitude for assisting my team, Naruto. And it's good to see that you value your allies so highly." Seeing Naruto rub the back of his head, slightly abashed, she smiled slightly and turned to include Hinata. "So, how did your mission go?" she asked, addressing the question to both her student and the Jinchuuriki boy. "Did everything work out in the end?"

Naruto nodded emphatically. "Oh yeah, it went great! We got Gaara back and we fought a whole load of Akatsuki guys and we got to see Suna, it was awesome!" He paused and glanced expectantly at Hinata, waiting for her to continue.

Hinata shuffled her feet slightly as Kurenai, Kiba and Shino all turned their attention on her. "Ano… I don't know if I did that much… the mission…" She sent a hesitant glance in Naruto's direction, hoping that he would take on the explanation himself, but as she caught his eye she noticed him grinning encouragingly at her, waiting for her to speak, and she was struck by a thought. _'Naruto-kun could have talked about what happened on the mission himself,'_ she realised, her eyes widening. _'But instead he's letting me speak… letting me show them that I was… strong…' _She felt her heart swell with affection for the blonde boy and began to speak.

She tried to downplay her own achievements at first, such as her role in taking the bell from Kakashi back at the start of the mission, but after Naruto had interrupted her and said, "Hinata-chan's just being modest – she was the one that got the bell all by herself!" with his typical wide grin she blushed and tried not minimize her own involvement. It was still difficult, with her natural shyness kicking in whenever she focused on herself, but with Naruto's lively interjections and the occasional prompt whenever he felt she wasn't giving herself credit it slowly became easier, little by little. In fact, it was probably even easier than telling her father about the mission, with Naruto's help and her teammates showing a genuine interest; even Shino put forth a few queries in his usual, succinct manner to show that he too was curious as to hearing of her success.

Hinata had been given a short break from telling her tale as Naruto had described his squad's brief struggle against Deidara, using lots of sound effects and arm gestures when it came to the part with the explosions, but soon it was her turn to talk once again about what had happened back in the cave. She couldn't help but notice that Naruto was listening to her description of the fight with enthusiasm and for a moment she wondered why, before realising that this was his first time hearing all the details. In particular, she noticed with a light blush that he grinned widely as she described her **Shugo Hakke ****Rokujuuyonshou**, as though he was witnessing the technique first hand. As she got to the part where Chiyo had fallen she paused for a moment in her narration and risked a quick glance at her other teammates – Shino was listening intently, his eyes hidden by his dark glasses but his forehead furrowed with evident concern, Kiba was staring at her with obvious surprise, his eyebrows raised at hearing her exploits, and Kurenai nodded encouragingly as she gazed at her only female student with approval. Taking heart from their reactions, Hinata continued with renewed confidence.

As she reached the conclusion of her story, no-one spoke for a moment or two, still absorbing what she had said. Then Kiba let out a bark of laughter. "Damn, how come I don't get to go on any cool assignments like that? Whilst you were off rescuing the Kazekage and fighting S-rank criminals I was stuck here doing boring C-rank missions!"

"Not only did you complete your assignment successfully, your own role in opposing the Akatsuki was highly impressive," Shino added, inclining his head at the Hyuuga girl. "Many shinobi would have been overwhelmed by such a powerful foe, but you showed admirable courage in battle, even when logic dictated that you were outmatched."

Hinata blushed at the praise of the boys but couldn't prevent a small smile from reaching her lips and whispered a quiet but heartfelt, "Thank you."

Kurenai couldn't help but smile herself as she watched the modest reaction of the Hyuuga heiress. _'Hinata… that mission was good for you,'_ she thought to herself. _'Your confidence has grown, I can tell. I wonder how much of that is down to Naruto's influence on you?'_ She mulled over this question for a moment as Naruto added how they had been treated like heroes in Suna when they had returned with the Kazekage and described some of the luxuries of the hotel room, a slightly smug grin on his face as a jealous Kiba gaped incredulously at him, but she decided it was time to get her team back on topic.

"Thank you for describing your mission to us, Hinata, I'm very impressed. You've done both yourself and your team proud with your role in such an important assignment." Hinata's cheeks went pink and she ducked her head at hearing the jonin's praise, accompanied by a bark of agreement from Akamaru, but she accepted it with a small bow to her sensei. Returning her student's nod, Kurenai turned so that she was facing Kiba and Shino too. "Now, as for today's mission –"

She was cut off by a loud cry from Naruto. "Oh, wait, the mission! I almost forgot! Kurenai-sensei, d'you mind if I ask you something?"

The red eyed woman frowned at the interruption, but nodded once, wondering where Naruto was going with this.

"I got a really important new mission from Tsunade-baachan earlier today and she said I needed a new teammate," Naruto explained. "So I wanted to ask if it's ok if Hinata-chan comes with me!"

Hinata let out a muffled squeak of surprise at the suddenness of Naruto's question. He'd been looking for her specifically? He wanted _her_ to come on such a personal mission to him? She opened her mouth to confirm whether this was really happening and not just a dream, but she was left momentarily speechless.

Kiba glanced at Naruto narrowly. "You can't just expect Hinata to come with you just like that, Naruto," he snorted. "We have our own mission to go on too, y'know."

Shino nodded gravely. "Hinata's tracking capabilities are an important aspect of our team's dynamic. Her presence will be highly beneficial to the mission's probability of success."

"Aww, what?" said Naruto, crestfallen. "But I wanted her…"

Noticing Hinata's wide eyed blush at the blonde boy's words, Kurenai held up a hand to halt any further responses from either Kiba or Shino and pondered Naruto's question. She fixed her gaze on the orange clad boy, staring at him levelly. "Naruto, why do you want Hinata on your team?" she asked shrewdly.

"Huh?" Naruto asked, confused. "Does that mean you're gonna let Hinata-chan come with me?"

"I'm… considering it," she answered cautiously. "I'm still undecided at the moment, but if you can convince me that it would be beneficial for Hinata to go on this mission with you then I'll leave the decision up to her."

She cut Kiba off before he could interject again, eyeing the Inuzuka boy firmly and shaking her head to silently warn him to stay quiet. The dog user scowled mutinously but didn't interrupt.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows with thought for a few seconds. _'Is Kurenai-sensei testing me or something?'_ he wondered, trying to work out what the jonin kunoichi was trying to make him do. _'It sounds like she wants me to try and persuade her, but I don't get why…'_

Shrugging inwardly, Naruto tried to express what he was thinking. "Er… I guess I want Hinata-chan to come with me because… well, it's kinda like her part in the mission to Suna isn't over," he said awkwardly, stumbling over his words a little and hoping he was saying the right thing. Noticing Kurenai's curiously raised eyebrow at his remark, he continued hastily, "I mean, y'know how Sasori said how he was planning to meet up with Orochimaru? It was her that he told, not anyone else, so I kinda figured that after all the effort she put in fighting against him she deserved the chance to see it through to the end. And I already know how tough she is, after getting the bell from Kakashi-sensei and everything else she did on the mission, and I know she works well with me and Sakura-chan too, so I thought she'd be the best person to ask. With Hinata on the team, I know we can get Sasuke back this time…" He trailed off and glanced hopefully up at the jonin sensei.

Kurenai hummed thoughtfully at Naruto's words. They were blunt, and maybe a little tactless too, but he clearly meant what he said. She found his honesty refreshing and he made a persuasive argument; there was definitely an element of truth to what he was saying. Also, it was clear that the mission had made a positive impact on Hinata, so letting the Hyuuga girl continue on Naruto's squad might not be a bad idea… After all, Kurenai reflected, the more time Hinata spent around Naruto, the more confident she became…

The dark haired woman made a snap decision. "Ok Naruto, I accept your reasoning," Kurenai announced, smiling. "You have my permission for Hinata to be on your team." Naruto broke into a relieved grin, but before he could say anything she continued, "But you still need to ask her whether she wants to go. This is her decision, remember?"

"Oh, right!" Naruto realised, feeling slightly foolish for forgetting. A little embarrassed he turned to face the Hyuuga heiress, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly. "How about it, Hinata-chan? D'you wanna come with me?"

"Ano… I…" Hinata stuttered nervously, feeling torn between the other members of her squad and the object of her affections. Naruto had actually _wanted_ her on the same team as him; how could she turn down an opportunity like that to hopefully get closer to him? And after everything he had just said the urge to help him was almost overpowering – the way he had said Sasuke's name, with hope and excitement in his voice, made the urge to help him get his former teammate back become almost overwhelming. But it wasn't fair to forget about her own teammates, was it? They were almost like family; she couldn't just abandon them…

Noticing his teammate bite her lip indecisively and sensing her increasing anxiety, Shino stepped forward. "Hinata, are you perhaps concerned about leaving Team Eight behind?" the Aburame boy asked perceptively. Seeing Hinata blush and nod, eyes clouded with indecision, Shino fixed her with his usual calm gaze. "You have no need to fear; participating on missions outside of general squad formations is necessary on occasion. And allies do not forget other allies, correct?"

Kiba grinned at her. "Yeah, like Shino says, if you want to go off on the mission with this idiot then we're not gonna stop you. We know you're one of us."

Naruto huffed at Kiba's insult but chose not to comment, instead gazing at Hinata questioningly. The indigo haired girl's face was still dusted with a faint tinge of pink, but she nodded her thanks to both of her teammates and took a deep breath, meeting Naruto's cerulean eyes. "I… I want to help you, Naruto-kun," she said quietly, smiling shyly up at him. "If you w-want me on your team then I would be happy to go with you."

"Really?" Naruto questioned eagerly. "That's great, thanks Hinata-chan!" The orange clad boy laughed, his grin so wide that it made him squint.

Seeing Hinata's cheeks turn pink at Naruto's praise, Kurenai smiled inwardly, proud of her student's loyalty to her team as well as her greater confidence around Naruto. Deciding to give the Hyuuga girl a little push, she announced, "Well, Kiba, Shino and I had better be off now; we still need to drop by the Hokage's office to report the attack before we leave for our mission. Naruto, why don't you and Hinata find somewhere to discuss your own mission together? Maybe over lunch?"

Hinata's eyes widened and her blush intensified at Kurenai's suggestion. For a brief moment she felt a whole host of irrational worries surface, particularly about the state of her clothes – her jacket was still covered in splotches of ink and she felt the absurd fear that Naruto wouldn't want to be seen with her in such a state – but realising that Naruto was in exactly the same state as her, if not worse, she calmed herself down as best as she could. She knew Naruto wasn't like that; why did she cause herself to worry so much over such silly fears? And besides, as long as she had his company, nothing else mattered.

Her anxieties resolved, she quickly nodded her assent to her sensei's subtle prompt as Naruto cheerfully agreed, already trying to choose what kind of ramen he'd ask for at Ichiraku's first. The pale eyed girl noticed Shino arching an eyebrow and Kiba sniggering out of the corner of her eye, but neither of them commented on Naruto's density, for which she was thankful – it might have led to a very awkward revelation of her feelings for him and she knew that she wasn't ready to face that yet. Just thinking about telling him made her stutter become ten times worse.

Wanting to say goodbye to her teammates before she left, Hinata quickly moved closer to Kiba and Shino. "Thank you for being so understanding," she said softly, smiling thankfully at the two boys. "I hope your mission goes well enough without me."

"Your gratitude is appreciated, but unnecessary," replied Shino gravely, adjusting the collar of his overcoat slightly. "As I previously stated, allies do not forget one another. As collective unit, we support you in all your endeavours and have every confidence in your ability to succeed."

"Ugh, Shino, do you have to be so damn wordy all the time?" grumbled Kiba. Seeing the bug user fix his gaze steadily on him, his face completely impassive, Kiba rolled his eyes. "What he basically means is, 'Go kick some ass, Hinata!'"

Hinata couldn't help but giggle at her two teammates and nodded, feeling more confident in herself knowing that she had their support. She was about to say her goodbyes to Kurenai as well when she felt Naruto's hand grab hold of her wrist and his voice whine, "C'mon, c'mon, let's go, Hinata-chan. The ramen's waiting for us!"

Unable to prevent her self from laughing at his silliness, which drew a pout from Naruto, Hinata looked back one last time for her sensei. The dark haired woman met Hinata's gaze and nodded fractionally, her red eyes twinkling. As a grinning Naruto tugged at her, still holding onto her wrist, Hinata was just about able to wave goodbye with her other hand without falling behind.

As Naruto ran forward like an orange tornado, chattering incessantly about the merits of the various types of ramen at Ichiraku's and the impossible choice of deciding which to have first, Hinata smiled, despite her slight embarrassment at the close contact and her occasional stumbles as she tried to keep up. Enjoying the blonde boy's company and giggling at his boundless enthusiasm, she soon forgot about everything other than the contact of his skin against hers, the 'almost-date' that they were about to share and the fact that Naruto had said he wanted her by his side. And emanating from the touch of Naruto's hand against hers a slow, comfortable warmth spread through her body, heating her up from the inside out with a steady glow of happiness.

-o-o-

Poking his head out from behind a wall, Konohamaru glanced from side to side furtively, keeping a sharp eye out for the distinctive dark glasses and bandana that marked out his sensei, before relaxing as he saw that Ebisu was nowhere in sight. Grinning widely at his success in giving his teacher the slip, the brown haired boy emerged from his hiding spot and grinned. _'Hah, I knew I'd lost him!'_ he thought to himself, smirking inwardly. _'All it takes is a quick diversion from Moegi and Udon and Naruto-niisan's __**Oiroke no Jutsu**__ to distract him and I get the day to myself, away from those boring D-rank missions! Now for some real training!'_

Feeling his stomach growl loudly, Konohamaru felt his resolve waver. "On second thoughts, I'm hungry," he groaned out loud, clutching his belly. "I need food! Training can wait until after Ichiraku's!"

Already savouring the taste of the ramen on his tongue, the scarf wearing genin jumped up onto the rooftops to avoid the crowds of villagers on the busy streets and leapt from building to building, making it to the family run stall in no time at all. Ducking under the cloth barring the entrance, he called out, "Hey, Ojiisan, I'm starved! I need three bowls of beef ramen before I collapse!"

The stall owner laughed. "You heard the kid, Ayame! Three bowls of beef ramen, on the double!"

The brown haired girl nodded cheerfully at Konohamaru and began stirring the big pot of broth as her father deftly prepared the noodles, whistling as he did so.

Grinning widely at the smells of his nearly completed lunch, the Sandaime's grandson was about to take a seat on one of the stools alongside the counter, but a severe voice froze him in his tracks.

"Ahem… what are you doing here, Konohamaru?"

Konohamaru whipped his head around, face pale as he recognised the voice of the person speaking. "Gah! Iruka-sensei!"

Sure enough, the scarred chuunin was sitting just a few seats away, a bowl of noodles in front of him, a pair of chopsticks in his hands and a disapproving expression on his face. The rookie genin shuffled uncomfortably. "What are you doing at Ichiraku's? Shouldn't you be at the Academy?" Konohamaru asked, a hint of hope in his voice.

"The morning classes are over and I'm on my lunch break," Iruka answered, gazing sternly down at the genin. "But more importantly, why aren't you with Ebisu and the rest of your team?"

Konohamaru laughed nervously. "Well…about that… You see…" Seeing Iruka's frown deepen, he gulped, desperately wracking his brain for a good excuse. Thankfully, he was saved momentarily by Teuchi's cry of, "Order up!" and he quickly moved to collect the bowls, moving back to his seat as slowly as possible in the hope that Iruka's attention would be diverted.

However, as he sat down again, wanting to change the subject of the conversation, Iruka casually spoke up first. "So, Konohamaru, like I was saying, would you care to explain what made you think it would be a good idea to abandon the rest of your squad?"

The scarf wearing boy froze just as he was about to take his first bite and cursed inwardly. So much for that hope; he should have known that Iruka wasn't the type to get so easily distracted. With a sigh he decided it would be better to be as honest as possible to try and avoid a punishment from the Academy teacher – Iruka may have been strict sometimes, but he was always fair and would at least hear him out.

"I wanted to get some proper training done, so I can go out on real missions," Konohamaru grumbled, in between mouthfuls of noodles. "Ebisu-sensei always has us going out on totally lame D-rank missions that don't teach us anything and I've had enough! I'd learn more practicing my own skills, so Moegi and Udon helped me catch Ebisu-sensei off guard – that way I could escape and get some real training done!"

Iruka shook his head. "Konohamaru, those missions are part of the learning curve every ninja goes through," he replied, going into his patented 'lecture mode.' "It's important that newly qualified genin have a thorough grounding in the basics of working in a team and following orders before they are tasked with the more dangerous assignments. You're not going to benefit if you rush off on your own and abandon your teammates, no matter what you think, and Ebisu is an excellent teacher, so I'm sure you can learn a lot from him."

"But he's a total pervert!" protested Konohamaru. "You should have seen his reaction to my **Oiroke no Jutsu**; he can't be that great a teacher if it was so easy to distract him with just a simple technique like that! C'mon, at least let me finish lunch before I have to go back with him again. _Please_?"

"Ok, ok," Iruka relented, unable to hold back a smile at his former student's pleading tone. "But I'm escorting you straight back to Ebisu as soon as we've finished here, understand?"

Konohamaru scowled but let out a reluctant, "Yeah, fine."

Seeing the brown haired boy's downbeat attitude, Iruka tried to cheer him up. "I'll tell you what, I'll even pay for your lunch today, seeing as it's been so long since we last had ramen together. How does that sound?"

Konohamaru's face immediately brightened. "Thanks Iruka-sensei, you're the greatest!" he beamed, his previous annoyance forgotten. With renewed vigour he wolfed down his meal, hardly pausing for breath. Smiling at the reaction of the Sandaime's grandson, Iruka refocused on his own bowl too.

For a short while Iruka and the Sandaime's grandson didn't speak, concentrating on their food, but after a minute or so the silence was broken as Teuchi leant over the counter and called out, "Oh, Naruto, good to see you again! And you've brought your friend with you too!"

Konohamaru's ears perked up as he heard the name and he immediately looked over to Iruka, who had also heard Teuchi's greeting. For a split second they made eye contact, both thinking the same thing: _'Did he just say Naruto?'_ In an instant, both of them twisted quickly on their stools to face the entrance where, sure enough, Naruto was just ducking under the cloth, his usual wide grin present on his face.

Naruto was just about to call out his order, but before he could all the breath was forced from his lungs and he staggered backwards as something grabbed him tightly around the waist. Looking down with surprise, Naruto saw a younger boy's face staring up at him with a huge grin. "Boss, you're back!"

Naruto's eyes widened with recognition. "Konohamaru, is that you? Wow, you've grown a lot!"

The younger boy's grin became even wider as he released the blonde boy from his enthusiastic hug. "Yeah, I'm – wait, how come you're covered in ink?"

Naruto grimaced at the reminder and a scowl flashed across his face briefly. "It's a long story. But more importantly, how've you been doing since I've been away? Have you been training hard?"

"Of course!" answered Konohamaru, crossing his arms across his chest to try and appear tough. "I've been practicing all my jutsu really hard whilst you were away!"

"That's great!" praised Naruto, reaching forward and ruffling the hair of the Sandaime's grandson. "Now that I'm back in the village I should be able to teach you some more new jutsu as well – maybe I could make a start on showing you the **Rasengan** or some of my other techniques!"

Konohamaru's eyes lit up. "Oh wow, really? Thanks Boss, that gets me even closer to becoming Hokage!"

Naruto snorted. "You? Hokage? Not whilst I'm around you won't! The only one that's gonna have their face carved into that mountain is me!"

Konohamaru's face hardened with determination at his rival's challenge, but he forgot his previous competitiveness as he noticed Naruto's companion for the first time. "Hey, Naruto-niisan, who's that?" he asked, pointing at Hinata, who had just followed Naruto in and was glancing curiously at him. "Is she your girlfriend or something?"

Hinata's breath caught in her throat and her face flushed cherry red as she let out a small squeak. _'Girlfriend?' _she thought faintly, suddenly aware of her heart beating so fast that she felt like it would burst right through her chest. Seeing the scarf wearing boy's inquisitive eyes still on her she ducked her head down, hoping Naruto hadn't noticed her reaction.

"Nah, Hinata-chan's just one of my friends," Naruto explained, laughing. "We've got a mission together coming up, so we're just having lunch together."

Hinata let out an almost unnoticeable sigh at Naruto's words, wishing that what the younger boy had supposed had been the truth, but she nodded in support.

"Oh, ok," said Konohamaru, seeming to accept Naruto's words at face value as his confusion cleared up. "That makes sense."

Suddenly, Naruto noticed something and his attention was drawn to the genin's forehead. "Wait, Konohamaru, is that a hitai-ite?"

Konohamaru tapped his forehead proudly with his index finger. "Yep, I'm a fully qualified genin!" he boasted, crossing his arms across his chest. "I get to do missions and I'm on my own team now and everything!"

"Konohamaru, a minute ago you were complaining about the missions you were getting," said an amused voice. Looking up, Naruto's smile, if anything, got even wider. "Iruka-sensei! You're here too?"

Naruto's former Academy instructor nodded, smiling, and stood up as Naruto ran over, throwing his arms around the scarred chuunin in a warm embrace.

"Iruka-sensei, it's great to see you again!" beamed Naruto, so excited that he could hardly stand still. "I've got so much to tell you! I've been training as hard as I can whilst I was away and I've already had a really important mission since I've been back!"

Iruka smiled at his favourite student's enthusiasm. "It's good to see you again as well, Naruto, and you too, Hinata," he said, gently prising himself free from the blonde boy's grip. "You can tell me all about what you got up to on your travels over lunch if you want – my treat."

Naruto's eyes lit up. "Really? That's great!" he exclaimed, pulling up a stool. "I'll have my usual, Ojiisan – your biggest bowl of miso ramen, with all the extras! How about you Hinata-chan?"

The Hyuuga girl, who had been standing by the entrance, not wanting to interrupt Naruto's reunion with both his former sensei and his 'student,' jumped at the sound of his voice addressing her. "Ano… I'll have a miso ramen too, p-please."

Teuchi bowed low, eyes twinkling. "Whatever you say, Hyuuga-sama!" he chuckled, causing Hinata to blush at his joking formality and Naruto to laugh good-naturedly.

Ayame frowned and gave her father a cuff round the back of his head. "Tousan, don't tease our customers!" she scolded, giving Hinata a friendly smile as she went back to stirring the large pot. "You might offend Hinata-san if you say things like that."

"No, no, it's ok," Hinata interjected hastily as she took a seat to Naruto's left, not wanting to seem overly uptight in front of the jovial ramen stall owner. "I d-don't mind at all, it's fine, honestly."

As Teuchi and Ayame went back to bickering with each other good naturedly, Hinata turned to face Naruto, Iruka and Konohamaru. To her surprise, the scarf wearing genin was staring at her. "Ano… is there something wrong, Konohamaru-kun?" she asked, feeling self-conscious under his disbelieving gaze.

"Ojiisan just said you were a Hyuuga, but there's no way you can be one of those stuck-up, arrogant jerks," the younger boy said, scrunching his face up. "You're nothing like that snobby Hanabi girl I'm gonna be stuck with next week – I still can't believe Ebisu-sensei said that we're gonna have to team up with her squad for some stupid training mission! Like I'm gonna learn anything teamed up with a self-important brat like her!"

Hinata bit her lip and her eyes hardened momentarily; she couldn't help but feel the slightest flicker of defensiveness at anyone criticising her younger sister. "Please don't talk about Hanabi-chan that w-way," she said quietly, her head low. "She's my little sister. I know she isn't perfect, but she's very precious to me and I don't like it when my friends or family are criticised…"

Realising he had overstepped the mark, Konohamaru shifted on his stool awkwardly. A muttered, "Right, sorry," escaped his lips as he looked down, avoiding Hinata's eyes.

"It's ok," Hinata smiled, trying to repair the atmosphere between them. "She can be a little… umm… _difficult_ sometimes, but she means well."

"But she treats me like she's so much better than me," Konohamaru scowled, poking moodily at his noodles with his chopsticks. "Just because I'm the 'dead last' of the Academy… No matter how hard I trained she still looked down on me like I wasn't important…"

Hinata felt a small pang of sympathy for the boy – he reminded her a lot of Naruto in the way that he seemed to want to be acknowledged – and Naruto spoke up himself. "The best way to be recognised by others is just to keep trying," he advised, his voice muffled by the ramen that Teuchi had just placed in front of him. Gulping the mouthful down, he added, "If you keep training to become stronger then no-one will look down on you, no matter who they are!"

Hinata nodded at Naruto's words, though suppressing a giggle at his lack of table manners. "Hanabi-chan doesn't understand the feeling of not being acknowledged, Konohamaru-kun," she agreed, trying to explain it from her sister's viewpoint.

"Huh?" Konohamaru frowned, not understanding. "You mean she gets attention all the time?"

Seeing the genin's confused expression Hinata was about to expand on her point, but she was interrupted as a smiling Teuchi served up her bowl of ramen, which she quickly responded to by turning and bowing her head in thanks. Blowing on the steaming noodles, she took a quick bite, enjoying the mix of flavours as Konohamaru cocked his head to one side, waiting for her to start speaking again. Swallowing, Hinata continued, "My sister has always been v-very gifted, even from an early age, so she doesn't know what it's like not to immediately be acknowledged or not be good at something, but she's not a bad person. If you keep trying your best, I know Hanabi-chan will recognise you – if you show her that you won't give up, then she will grow to respect you, I'm s-sure."

Naruto grinned impishly. "Some new jutsus wouldn't hurt either!"

Konohamaru frowned thoughtfully, taking another bite of ramen and chewing as he thought things through. "I suppose that makes sense," he admitted grudgingly. "So all I've gotta do is impress her with my awesome skills, right?" Seeing Hinata nod, he grinned. "Great! In that case, it'll be the perfect opportunity to show off my new and improved technique!"

"A new technique?" Naruto questioned eagerly. "That sounds great! Can I see?"

Konohamaru smirked at Naruto's enthusiastic interest and the curious glance Hinata was sending in his direction. "Sure! But you'd better be ready for it, or it'll blow your mind!" Clasping his hands together, Konohamaru jumped off his stool and focused his chakra, calling out, **"Oiroke no Jutsu!"** before vanishing in a puff of white smoke.

"**Oiroke no Jutsu?"** Teuchi repeated quizzically, leaning over the counter.

Iruka groaned, slumping on his seat. "You don't want to know…" he muttered, raising his eyes to the heavens as he remembered how Konohamaru and Naruto had both managed to catch him off guard with this technique at the Academy. Shaking his head wearily, Iruka waved his hand from side to side, trying to blow away the obscuring haze.

Hinata peered curiously into the cloud of smoke, wondering what technique Konohamaru had just performed. The hand seal he had used made her think it was a henge of some sort, though Iruka-sensei's tired, resigned reaction didn't quite seem to fit. The name of the technique was odd as well – strangely enough, Hinata could have sworn she remembered hearing the name **Oiroke no Jutsu **from somewhere before…

Then, as the smoke dissipated further, Hinata's eyes widened to the size of dinner pates and her mouth flew open as she saw the image of a shapely brunette girl, standing completely naked in front of her right where Konohamaru had been – though, much to Hinata's relief, at least the smoke still seemed to be hiding the girl's most private areas. Feeling the heat rise to her face, she quickly averted her eyes as the girl posed provocatively, crossing her arms across her chest, just in front of her breasts, bending at the waist slightly and winking. "How's this, Naruto-niisan?" she asked confidently, tossing her long, straight hair over one shoulder. "Pretty good, huh?"

The female version of Konohamaru was half way through a second pose, extending one leg forward to show off more bare skin, when Iruka rapped his knuckles firmly on top of the girl's head. Instantly the henge dissipated with another puff of smoke, leaving Konohamaru standing in its place and clutching his skull. "Oww! Iruka-sensei, that hurt!" he pouted, looking up indignantly at the scarred chuunin. "What did you go and do that for?"

Iruka just sighed and pointed at the reactions of everyone else. Hinata was blushing up a storm, Teuchi looked totally stunned, Ayame was staring open mouthed at him and Naruto was shaking his head with disapproval.

Konohamaru looked a little disappointed he hadn't got a more positive reaction. "What?" he mumbled, a little put out. "It was just a joke…"

"Konohamaru, you can't go around using jutsu like that," said Naruto, lifting himself up off his stool and walking over to the younger genin. "That sorta thing just isn't acceptable anymore."

Iruka raised his eyebrows at Naruto's words. _'Since when is Naruto so mature?'_ he asked himself, surprised. _'Did he really grow up so much whilst he was away on his training mission with Jiraiya?'_ He felt a strange mixture of pride and sadness as he looked at the orange clad boy in front of him – he felt proud that Naruto had grown up so much, but couldn't help but feel a little disappointed about it too. Seeing Naruto without his mischievous, childish side just didn't feel right somehow, and as he looked across to Hinata, Iruka thought she looked similarly upset.

Shaking his head, though unable to get the slight feeling of despondency about Naruto's newfound maturity out of his mid, Iruka refocused on the conversation between his two favourite former pupils as Konohamaru's face scrunched up. "But Boss…" he whined, gazing at Naruto imploringly.

"No buts!" Naruto interrupted, a fiery glint in his eye. "That sort of technique…" He paused dramatically, letting the tension build, before continuing in a yell, "… Isn't good enough!"

Iruka blinked. Surely that didn't mean he was about to…

Oblivious to his former sensei's impending realisation, Naruto posed heroically, hands on hips. "You'll have to do better than that, Konohamaru – I've developed perverted ninjutsu that are a thousand times more amazing than that! Now watch this!" Gathering his chakra, Naruto grinned devilishly and shouted, **"Haaremu no Jutsu!"**

With a series of high-pitched popping sounds, suddenly the small ramen stall was filled with Naruto's clones, all transformed into totally naked female versions of their creator. Teuchi froze, his jaw dropping as he saw the result of his favourite customer's technique, and Ayame was left speechless, words completely failing her as she opened and closed her mouth mutely. As for Hinata, she let out a mortified squeak, her face now so red that it was almost the same shade as Sakura's dress.

Iruka blinked, momentarily stunned, then shook his head, chuckling. _'Now that's the Naruto I remember,'_ he thought, grinning inwardly. Outwardly, however, he tried to put on the sternest face he could muster, though the effect was slightly lessened by the fact that he couldn't prevent the corners of his mouth from twitching slightly. "Naruto, Konohamaru, thank you for that little…" Iruka paused, searching for the right word "… _demonstration_, but that's more than enough," he scolded, raising his voice slightly to get the point across. "Now sit down, both of you, unless you want your ramen to go cold."

He laughed as Naruto immediately dispelled the jutsu, the clones popping out of existence, and both boys quickly dashed back to their seats upon hearing the reminder, shovelling ramen into their mouths at a frenzied pace. Naruto was just about to ask for a second helping, leaning back on his stool and patting his stomach as he finished his first bowl, but out of the corner of his eye he noticed Hinata tapping her fingers together, her face still ablaze with the same vivid blush.

"Ne, Hinata-chan, are you ok?" Naruto questioned, peering over at her. "Your face is kinda red… and you've barely touched your ramen!"

Despite her acute embarrassment, Hinata couldn't help but smile at Naruto's last comment – he'd spoken it as though it was some sort of sacrilege. "N-No, no, it's g-good, really. I just… umm…" Her blush intensified, but she just about managed to stutter, "Ano… w-where did you l-learn about… I m-mean…" She fell silent, unable to get the words out, but thankfully Ayame, overhearing their conversation, helped her out.

"Naruto you idiot, she wants to know where you got the idea to do something so… so suggestive!" she snapped, her own face still slightly flushed after seeing the nude forms standing so boldly in front of her. "And, for that matter, so do I, so spill it! Did Jiraiya-sama teach you that awful, perverted technique?"

"No, I did it myself! And it's not perverted!" Naruto defended himself indignantly. "It's just a great way to catch out the guys that _are_ perverted. It's helped me out in loads of situations!"

Ayame crossed her arms, looking decidedly sceptical. "Oh yeah? Well where did you get the 'inspiration' to create a jutsu like that?"

For the first time, Naruto's own face heated up. "It's not like that…" he mumbled, embarrassed. "It was meant to be a joke… I wasn't peeping like Ero-Sennin would do, or anything like that."

Ayame couldn't help but soften as she saw his reddened face. "What do you think, Hinata?" she asked, grinning playfully at the younger girl. "Should we believe him?"

Hinata blushed at Ayame's teasing tone of voice, but sided with Naruto. "Ano… I don't think Naruto-kun would d-do something like that…"

Ayame smirked. "So you don't think he'd ever be tempted to look at naked women?" she asked innocently, grinning impishly as she noticed how Hinata's eyes flickered to Naruto for the briefest instant before jerking her gaze away. "Not even a little?"

If possible, Hinata's face went even redder – Ayame was sure that if the Hyuuga heiress had blushed any deeper then she'd have steam coming out of her ears. "W-Well… umm… I d-don't know…"

"Ayame-neechan, cut it out!" Naruto scowled, crossing his arms moodily across his chest and pouting. "I'm not like Ero-Sennin!"

Laughing, the brown haired girl relented. "Ok, ok, fine, you're not a pervert. Happy? Now, how about a refill?"

Nodding eagerly, Naruto handed his empty ramen bowl over. Thankful that Ayame had dropped the subject, Hinata went back to eating, enjoying the meal. Now that she thought about it, she was surprisingly hungry – maybe Naruto's love for ramen had rubbed off on her. She smiled at the thought and lifted the last of her noodles to her mouth, finishing just as Teuchi passed Naruto a second extra-large bowl to Naruto, who grinned in thanks and began devouring the contents in record time moments later.

Suddenly, Naruto heard a faint rumbling sound and paused for a moment, frowning. That sounded like his stomach had just growled, but it had come to his left, he was sure of it. And the only person sitting to his left was…

'_No way! That was Hinata's stomach just now?'_

Naruto's jaw dropped as he saw Hinata's cheeks turn pink at his incredulous gaze. "Oh, umm… I didn't think it was that loud…" she blushed, ducking her head down so that her dark indigo haired covered her face.

Naruto laughed with delight. "I can't believe that was you just now! I thought it was me at first that'd made that noise!"

Hinata raised her head a little, so that Naruto could see her face, still tinged with a faint blush. "I guess I'm still a little hungry," she said, smiling somewhat self-consciously. Feeling a little bolder, she took a breath and went on, "M-Maybe… this is just something else we have in common?"

"Huh?" said Naruto, cocking his head to the side with confusion. "I'd have said that we're kinda different. Y'know, I'm loud and always trying to be the centre of attention, and you're quiet and shy… er, not that it's a bad thing!" he added hastily, not wanting to offend her.

"O-Oh… ok…" Unable to hide her disappointment, even though what Naruto had said had been the truth, Hinata felt the urge to drop the subject. She had to admit, even to herself, that he was right – in some ways they seemed like total opposites and when she felt unsure of herself and any chance of Naruto noticing her, these exact same doubts had surfaced in her own mind too.

But despite her embarrassment she decided to press on with the subject regardless – she could hardly change the topic now that she'd brought it up and more importantly, she _wanted _Naruto to know just how much he'd influenced her. When she'd been feeling at her lowest and most worthless it was him that made her find the courage and determination to keep going, and she wasn't going to stop now.

"W-Well, because of you, I feel that I've maybe… changed a little. I feel like I've become stronger and m-more like you… because of your example…" She trailed off, heart beating rapidly, and began fiddling with the zipper of her jacket. "I remember seeing you back at the Academy, out on the training field, where you would p-practice for hours and hours…" Hinata almost lost her voice as she met his gaze, his wide, expressive blue eyes drawing her in, but she collected herself and continued as steadily as she could, "I admired you a lot."

Naruto, if anything, looked even more confused by her explanation. "You admired me?" he asked, bewildered. "At the Academy? But I was useless back then! I couldn't even make a stupid Bunshin!"

"You weren't useless!" Hinata protested, sounding noticeably upset. "P-Please don't ever think that! Y-You always tried your best, even when everyone else didn't acknowledge you! That was more than I could ever do…"

Seeing the honesty in her pale white eyes, Naruto blinked, nonplussed. "Ah… thanks…" he replied awkwardly, unsure of what to say. Back in the Chuunin Exams he'd gained some understanding of how Hinata had been looked down upon, just like him, and he remembered how she had referred to him as a 'proud failure' before his fight against Neji, but he'd never thought his training and struggles had been witnessed by anyone else. But in spite of the awkwardness of the situation he felt himself smile. Knowing that someone like Hinata had taken heart from his never-say-die attitude meant a lot to him.

Realising that Hinata was finding the situation just as uncomfortable as him – she was tugging nervously at the hem of her ink stained jacket as she waited for a response – he resolved himself to consider the similarities between them again. This time, he was surprised as a sudden memory of something Lee had once remarked, back in the Chuunin Exams, popped into his head.

'"_The two of you are a lot alike…" That's what Fuzzy Brows said. But are we really that similar that he noticed so quickly?'_ wondered Naruto. _'I dunno…'_

But as he continued to think about it, with more memories from before he had left the village with Jiraiya surfacing, as well as some more recent ones from the mission to rescue Gaara, Naruto had to reconsider. _'How come I never noticed that Hinata was like me in so many ways?' _he asked himself, puzzled. _'Now that she's pointed it out it seems really obvious. We have different personalities, but we're a lot alike otherwise.' _

Shrugging his shoulders at his lack of insight, Naruto grinned at the Hyuuga girl sitting beside him, who was still waiting for an answer. "I'd never really thought about it before, but yeah, I think you're right. We do have kind of a lot of stuff in common; we both work hard so that other people acknowledge us, we always do our best and never give up, we have the same nindo… I guess that means you're just as awesome as me!"

Hinata glowed inwardly at the compliment and, resisting the urge to duck her head down again, met Naruto's blue eyes and smiled up at him, whispering, "Thank you." Seeing his face crinkle as he grinned back at her, she fiddled with a stray strand of hair, feeling slightly flustered, and turned to face the counter. Teuchi and Ayame had both moved down closer to Iruka and Konohamaru and were laughing at their conversation; the scarf wearing genin was trying to persuade Iruka to buy him another five bowls, but Iruka was steadfastly holding out at four. From what Hinata could tell, he looked a little worried at just how much Naruto and Konohamaru had eaten already, having offered to treat them both – his salary as a teacher was hardly likely to be huge, so Hinata couldn't help but be impressed at just how far he had shown he was willing to go for his two favourite students already.

Clearing her throat to try and attract the ramen stall owner's attention, Hinata spoke up in a quiet voice. "Ano, Teuchi-san? Do you mind if I… umm… if I have a s-second helping, please?"

Teuchi smiled cheerfully. "I should've known that Naruto's friends would have just as big an appetite as him! Of course, coming right up!"

Nodding her thanks, Hinata turned back to face Naruto. The blonde haired boy blinked in surprise at her order for seconds, then grinned widely. "Heheh, we really do have a lot in common!" he laughed, stopping eating for a moment to blow on his noodles. Just as he put the food in his mouth, missing Hinata's slightly pink cheeks as a result of his praise, a thought occurred to him. "Hey, Iruka-sensei," called Naruto, attempting to swallow his noodles and attract his sensei's attention at the same time, with his voice slightly muffled by the food. "How come you didn't get all pervy when I used the **Haaremu no Jutsu** earlier?"

Iruka spluttered with outrage and nearly choked on his ramen. Coughing, he managed to swallow, then turned to face the orange clad boy. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, disgruntled.

"You used to in the past," Naruto pointed out, grinning widely. "Remember my third graduation test? When I used my **Oiroke no Jutsu**, you definitely reacted back then!"

Konohamaru frowned. "That's not fair, Iruka-sensei – you can't tell me not to use those techniques if you –"

"That's enough!" Iruka protested indignantly. "Naruto, you know full well that I was never affected by that jutsu of yours!"

"Yes you were," grinned Naruto mischievously, not perturbed even slightly by his former sensei's interruption. "You remember, right Hinata-chan?"

"Ano…" Hinata glanced up apologetically at the Academy teacher. "Iruka-sensei did react a l-little, I think…" Seeing Iruka's head drop as Naruto and Konohamaru both began laughing, she hastily tried to defend him, adding, "B-But it wasn't his fault – I'm sure he didn't mean to!"

Naruto laughed even harder at Hinata's answer as Iruka groaned, causing Hinata to giggle too. "Ok, maybe I reacted a tiny bit back then…" he admitted, scratching at his scar. "But that was a long time ago!"

"But if it worked back then, how come you weren't affected this time?" asked Naruto curiously, peering inquisitively at his former mentor's face. "Have you been reading Ero-Sennin's dirty books, like Kakashi-sensei does?"

"What? Of course not!" answered Iruka, irritatedly brushing the question off and taking a bite of ramen.

"Have you been spying on loads of girls at the hot springs?"

"No!"

Naruto frowned thoughtfully. "Well how else could you have become immune to my sexy techniques?"

"Wait, I bet I know what it is!" piped up Konohamaru. "Iruka-sensei must have a girlfriend!"

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked, somewhat sceptically. "I mean, I can't imagine Iruka-sensei…" But his words died on his lips as he saw the Academy teacher turn to try and hide his suddenly reddened face and Naruto's eyes widened at his former sensei's reaction. "… No way! You really do have a girlfriend, don't you Iruka-sensei?" he exclaimed eagerly, excited for his favourite teacher. "Who is she? What's she like? How long have you been going out for?"

"Yeah, come on Iruka-sensei, you gotta tell us!" added Konohamaru, just as enthusiastically.

"… Can we just drop the subject?" Iruka pleaded weakly, looking somewhat overwhelmed by Naruto's quick fire questioning.

Konohamaru grinned devilishly. "I knew it!" he exclaimed, jumping off his stool into an improvised victory dance. Together with Naruto, he cheekily began chanting, "Sensei's got a girlfriend, Sensei's got a girlfriend!" over and over, with Iruka steadily becoming more and more embarrassed as Teuchi and Ayame began laughing good-naturedly at the commotion.

Though she couldn't deny that a small part of her was curious about Iruka's potential love life as well, Hinata felt the need to speak up on her former sensei's behalf too and tried to calm Naruto and Konohamaru down. "Ano… I d-don't think it's fair on Iruka-sensei to tease him like this," she said worriedly. "It doesn't seem right to make assumptions, and if he does have a girlfriend then it's his concern, n-not ours."

"Aww, but it was just getting fun!" whined Naruto, still grinning at the scarred chuunin's discomfort. Seeing Iruka's mock glare he backed off, laughing, and returned to his ramen.

About twenty minutes later, with several extra bowls stacked up around both Naruto and Konohamaru, Iruka paid the bill, wincing as he saw just how much it had all cost, and the four of them left Ichiraku's together, stepping out into the early afternoon sunlight and waving goodbye to Teuchi and his daughter.

Trying not to think about how much lighter his wallet now was, Iruka sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I'm afraid I can't stay longer. Afternoon lessons at the Academy start in fifteen minutes or so and I still have to find Ebisu. Isn't that right, Konohamaru?" Iruka turned to face the scarf wearing genin, expecting him to start pleading to be let off the hook, but to his confusion Konohamaru was nowhere to be seen.

"What the…? Where did he go?" Seeing Hinata and Naruto both looked just as surprised as himself at the young genin's sudden disappearance, Iruka groaned and craned his neck, scanning the crowd, before letting out a triumphant, "Hah!" as he spotted Konohamaru – the brown haired genin had already surreptitiously sidled halfway down the street, evidently trying to sneak away before Iruka noticed him.

"Konohamaru, get back here!" Iruka shouted with frustration. "I haven't forgotten about you abandoning your sensei!" Letting out a yelp of fear, the Sandaime's grandson realised that Iruka had spotted him and increased his pace to a run, weaving in and out of the villagers and ducking down a side street to try and lose his former teacher. Grumbling under his breath, Iruka waved an apologetic goodbye to a laughing Naruto and a giggling Hinata, before setting off in hot pursuit, shouting, "You can't escape from me, Konohamaru! I'm taking you back to Ebisu right now!"

Watching his former Academy sensei leave, hot on Konohamaru's heels, Naruto grinned reminiscently. "Man, I remember when it was me that Iruka-sensei would chase all across the village. Those pranks I pulled seem so long ago now…It makes me feel old, like Tsunade-baachan!"

Hinata smiled as she thought back some of Naruto's more exuberant jokes – who could forget the time he'd had the sheer nerve to spray-paint the entire Hokage monument? "You're not old, Naruto-kun," she giggled, trying to reassure him. "You're just… m-more grown up."

Naruto laughed. "So long as I'm not old! I've still got too much I want to get done before I have to retire: train to be the best ninja in the village, become Hokage, beat the Akatsuki…" He paused for a moment and his eyes dimmed slightly as he added, "… And bring Sasuke back…"

Hinata hesitantly reached out a hand and rested it on his arm in an effort to comfort him, a light blush staining her cheeks. "Naruto-kun… you don't give up… and y-you always try so hard to reach all the goals you've set your heart on… I'm s-sure you'll achieve all of those ambitions. And you can start on finding Sasuke-san with the mission tomorrow, right?"

Naruto's features softened at her words and he smiled at her – not his usual ear-to-ear grin, but a small, thankful twitch of his lips. "Thanks, Hinata-chan…" he said quietly. He shook his head like a wet dog in an effort to banish his doubts and continued more confidently, "Yeah, with my friends helping me, I know I can do it! If this mission gives us a lead to Orochimaru then we'll just have to grab it with both hands so that Sasuke doesn't get away!" Hinata nodded, pleased to see Naruto was in better spirits again, and released his arm, taking a step back to try and avoid the temptation to keep hold of him for longer that had suddenly just popped up in her head… which was quickly followed by wondering just how Naruto's bare arms would feel wrapped around her.

As she tried to fight back her blush at the thoughts now rushing through her mind – the memory of Naruto shirtless on the way to Suna was particularly vivid – the boy in question began speaking again. "Well, I'd probably better get changed out of these messed up clothes and start packing for the mission now, so I'll see you tomorrow at the village gates to meet Sakura-chan and our team leader, ok?" Seeing the shy Hyuuga girl nod, though not noticing her slight disappointment that he was leaving so soon, he grinned. "Great! See ya later then, bye!"

Giving her one last grin, Naruto waved a carefree arm and began walking down the street back to his apartment, hands clasped loosely behind his head. Smiling at his departing form, Hinata let her feet lead her home.After all he'd done to help her become stronger, knowingly or not, now it was her turn to help him.

-o-o-

"Hey! You're that bastard who attacked me yesterday!"

Seeing Naruto pointing angrily at the boy that had just arrived a minute or two later than the two girls and himself, Yamato let out a sigh. This must be the Root member that Tsunade had mentioned Danzo had forcibly pushed onto her. He had originally been looking forward to the chance to work with the students of the revered Hatake Kakashi; the copy nin's exploits from back when he had been in the ANBU were almost the stuff of legend, so when the Hokage had called him into her office to tell him that he was going to be the masked jonin's temporary replacement he had been honoured. With the Sharingan weilder's squad in his command he had also felt confident in the capabilities of his team and the likelihood of success for the upcoming mission – although he had never met Kakashi's subordinates before he had heard of how strict the silver haired jonin was when it came to deciding whether a squad was up to scratch or not, having sent multiple genin teams straight back to the Academy. But now, upon having the harmony of the group disrupted already, he was beginning to have his doubts.

Temporarily pushing his misgivings to one side, Yamato looked from the blonde haired boy, who was glaring openly at the dark haired boy that had just arrived, to the newcomer, who was standing with one hand raised in greeting, smiling with his eyes closed. Turning back to Naruto, perplexed as to the reason for his anger, Yamato looked to his two companions to gauge their own reactions to the Root member joining their team, hoping their expressions would spread some light on Naruto's animosity. Standing to his left was the pink haired medic nin that had arrived first, who looked taken aback by Naruto's sudden outburst, but next to her a girl with pale eyes – a Hyuuga, Yamato guessed – was frowning, clearly recognising the pale skinned teenager.

"Attacked?" Sakura repeated, looking from Naruto to the new arrival, forehead creased with confusion. "By this guy?"

"Yeah, I was with Hinata-chan and the rest of Team Eight earlier when this guy set a load of ink monsters on us!" Naruto explained, shooting a dark glare in the direction of the smiling boy. Hinata nodded her agreement, keeping her gaze fixed intently on their assailant from earlier that morning, and Sakura's eyes hardened.

Not seeming even remotely perturbed by the unwelcoming atmosphere surrounding his new teammates, the dark haired boy smiled at them. "I apologise for startling you this morning," he said, addressing Naruto in an unconcerned voice. "I merely wished to gauge the capabilities of my new teammate. It's a good thing I did; I had no idea that they were putting me in the same squad as a prick with no balls like you."

"What did you say?" Naruto growled fiercely, stepping towards him threateningly as Hinata visibly stiffened with disapproval, but the orange clad teen's advance was halted by Sakura grabbing hold of the collar of his jacket and yanking him back. "Naruto, calm down," she hissed, jabbing at his chest with her index finger to accentuate the point. "He's our teammate for this mission, you can't just attack him." Seeing Naruto relent, albeit with reluctance, Sakura turned to face the pale skinned boy. "Still… you don't really seem all that nice. Insulting your new teammate is hardly the best way of starting a mission."

Hinata nodded, wanting to try and defuse the situation, despite her unhappiness at their new squad member's dismissive attitude towards Naruto and his earlier attack on the rest of her team. "Please, Sakura-san is right, we shouldn't be fighting," she said, trying to be more welcoming to their strange teammate. "I know you attacked us, but m-maybe we all just got off on the wrong foot?"

The boy considered their words for a moment. "I like friendly people like you, Hag," he smiled, addressing Sakura. "And yes, I think Weirdo is right – I hope we can get on better from now on."

There was a moment of total hush after the boy spoke, which was broken as an enraged Sakura shouted, "WHAT?" at the top of her voice, looking ready to spit fire. As the brown haired jonin in charge of the team moved across to try and calm her down before she tore the pale skinned boy limb from limb, Hinata frowned, struggling to come to terms with the total contrast between needlessly insulting words and his outwardly friendly appearance – aside from his ever-present smile, which felt eerily out of place. She wasn't quite sure what to make of him, in all honesty. Was he deliberately antagonising Naruto, Sakura and herself, or was he just painfully unaware of just how insulting his words were?

"Hey, hey, that's enough," intervened the brown haired team leader, waving his hands placatingly. "Let's all just take a deep breath and calm down, ok?" Seeing the ninja before him settle down, although Hinata's features were marred by a small frown and both Naruto and Sakura were still glaring with annoyance at the newly arrived team member, who was smiling back serenely, Yamato let out a sigh of relief – the mission briefing he had been given by Tsunade hadn't said anything about two of the team members having any sort of previous feud. "Ok, now that's all out of the way, let's introduce ourselves. My name is Yamato and I'll be your captain for this mission in place of Kakashi-san. Now, how about the rest of you?"

"Haruno Sakura," the pink haired medic nin introduced herself shortly, her fingers still twitching every so often; Hinata had the feeling that she was repressing the urge to ball her fingers into a fist and punch him into the middle of next week for the 'Hag' comment.

Naruto scowled, but grunted, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto," glaring at the ink user out of the corner of his eye.

"I'm H-Hyuuga Hinata," said Hinata quietly, looking up and meeting the artist's dark, unreadable gaze, hoping that their introductions had lessened some of the tension. Although her first impressions of their new squad member were unfavourable to say the least, she still wanted to make things work out with him – unfriendly or not, he was still their teammate, and in a mission as important as this then they would have to learn to work with him to have any chance of success.

With all eyes on him now that he was the last one to introduce himself, the boy smiled engagingly. "My name is Sai," he said pleasantly.

Naruto snorted. "Just Sai?"

"Just Sai," the dark haired ninja answered, smiling in agreement.

Noticing Naruto grind his teeth with frustration and not wanting the temporary truce to be broken, Yamato clapped his hands together to draw their attention. "Well, now that introductions are out of the way, we should get moving. The sooner we get to the Hidden Grass Village, the sooner we can begin our preparation for capturing the spy in Orochimaru's organisation. Is everyone ready?" Seeing Naruto and Sakura both sourly mutter an affirmative, Sai smile integratingly and Hinata nod, Yamato raised a hand, signalling for the group to head through the gates and out onto the dirt track leading into Konoha.

The first stage of the journey passed in near total silence, with Yamato out in front, Sai a few paces back and Naruto, Hinata and Sakura bringing up the rear. Hinata could hear Naruto still muttering under his breath, shooting angry glares at the back of Sai's head every so often, but Sakura seemed to have calmed down and was studying the older boy closely, her green eyes uncertain. After a few minutes she sighed, smiling reminiscently, though with a hint of sadness present too.

"Ano, Sakura-san, is something wrong?" Hinata asked, her curiosity getting the better of her as she broke the silence.

Sakura jumped slightly at Hinata's voice. "Huh? Oh, it's nothing…" she answered distractedly, fiddling with a loose strand of hair. "I was just thinking… I know Sai's manners are really offensive, but he reminds me a little of Sasuke-kun."

"What? No way!" Naruto exclaimed loudly. "Sasuke's nothing like this asshole!"

"But don't you think he looks quite similar in appearance? The dark hair, the pale skin…" Sakura sighed sadly once more.

Peering at the boy walking ahead of them in more detail, Hinata thought that Sakura had a point. The slightly aloof attitude and the way he held his head up did remind her of the brooding Uchiha.

Naruto scrunched his eyes up, conjuring up Sasuke's face in his mind and comparing it to the boy in front of him, tilting his head at different angles to try and find a resemblance. "I suppose they are a _bit_ alike," he admitted grudgingly, after a few seconds of observation. "But I still don't want him here! The three of us and Yamato-taichou is enough for Team Kakashi – he's just intruding!"

Hinata couldn't help but smile slightly at the childish tone of Naruto's voice, coupled with his squinted eyes and the grumpy pouting expression on his face. To her eyes at very least, they made him look both surly and adorable at the same time. And the fact that he had included her in team Kakashi once again also made her feel warm inside.

At that moment, Sai turned his head slightly, staring back at Naruto from his position slightly ahead. "Is there a problem?" he asked pleasantly, smiling unconcernedly at the orange clad boy. "Your glaring is starting to become a little irritating and I'd rather not have to hit you."

"Goddammit, are you _trying _to piss me off or something?" shouted Naruto angrily, clenching his hands into fists.

Sai raised an eyebrow at Naruto's words. "I don't have any malice towards you at all," he said unconcernedly, meeting Naruto's gaze coolly.

"Liar!" growled Naruto, not believing him in the slightest. "All you've done since you've joined this team is try to piss me off as much as possible! Why the Hell are you even here?"

Hinata and Sakura both drew in sharp breaths, wondering if Naruto had gone too far with such an outwardly unfriendly outburst, and sure enough Yamato swiftly intervened from his position at the front of the group. "That's enough!" he interrupted sharply, staring severely at Naruto. "You certainly shouldn't be saying something like that in front of your captain. Kakashi-san is well renowned for his belief in the importance of co-operation and teamwork, so I'm sure he would have taught those key beliefs to his students too." The ANBU member shook his head with disapproval. "To think that someone like you is on the great Kakashi-san's team… Just what exactly is your problem?"

"My problem is that _he _isn't part of Team Kakashi!" Naruto shouted, gesturing wildly at Sai. "Sasuke is!"

Sai didn't visibly show any reaction to Naruto's loud claim, standing relaxed and motionless without trying to stop the blonde haired boy from speaking. Across from him, Sakura immediately went stiff at Naruto's words, her head bowed low so that her fringe was hiding her eyes, and next to her Hinata struggled with indecision, not sure whether to agree with Naruto, try to calm him down or take Yamato's side. She had always naturally tried to avoid conflict and now that she and Sakura were caught in the middle of such a heated argument she wasn't sure what to do, other than continue to stand uncertainly to the side and not get involved.

Unaware of the reactions of the two female members of his team, Naruto continued with his heated argument. "Sai's just some cheap replacement for Sasuke, isn't he? He's not a real part of Team Kakashi; he's just there to fill a gap! I bet he doesn't even care about being a member of Team Kakashi in the first place! So there's no way I'm ever gonna consider someone like him a part of this squad!"

Breathing heavily, Naruto ended his tirade, glaring at the ink user as if daring him to protest. Part of him knew that what he had said was ill advised and that he was being downright spiteful with his comment about Sasuke – for all of Sai's faults it wasn't his fault that he'd been chosen to be a stand-in for Sasuke, and the fact that he bared a resemblance to the renegade Uchiha was also an unfortunate coincidence – but Naruto really didn't care right now. The frustration caused by the ink user's attack earlier that day, combined with the offensive greeting, had pushed him over the edge, and in his current reckless state of mind he had made sure to tell the older boy exactly what he felt.

To Naruto's surprise, however, Sai didn't attempt to challenge his angry monologue. Instead he just smiled. "Well, I'm glad you think of me that way."

Naruto blinked with confusion. "Wait, you are?"

"Of course," Sai nodded, his smile growing slightly, twisting his facial muscles unnaturally. "I have no desire to be likened to a weak, pathetic pawn of Orochimaru, who only cared about power and betrayed his village without a second thought."

Naruto's face twisted into a snarl of hatred and he clenched his fists so hard that they quivered. "You bastard," he spat, his blue eyes narrowed with intense fury. "You're gonna pay for that!"

He took a step forward, intent on wiping that blank smile right off the pasty skinned boy's face, but before he could get any closer he was forcibly stopped; Sakura held her arm out commandingly in front of him, blocking his path and Hinata tugged insistently at the sleeve of his jacket.

"Naruto-kun, no!" the Hyuuga heiress whispered, keeping a firm grip on his arm despite the worry apparent in her pale eyes. "Please, you mustn't! Sai-san is going to be helping get Sasuke-san back on this m-mission, remember?"

Hinata's reminder of the aim of the mission made Naruto pause for a moment and his anger abated slightly as he felt his heart clench. The link to Sasuke, that had been almost completely severed for so long, was now within touching distance. Sasuke was so close now, almost back with the rest of Team Kakashi and part of their family once more, and Naruto refused to even consider the possibility that he might get away once more. To prise him away from Orochimaru's clutches Naruto would have done virtually anything; if that meant working with someone that mocked, belittled and insulted both him and his beliefs then he'd do it a thousand times over if it reunited him with the guy that he considered both a rival and a brother.

Slowly and carefully, Hinata let go of Naruto's arm, smiling sadly at him as she saw the momentary flash of pain across his eyes. She felt bad bringing such raw memories to the surface, but at least it had stopped him from outright attacking Sai, which would not have had a savoury ending for any of them. However, despite her interception of Naruto, she couldn't help but feel downright insulted by what Sai had said. Although she had tried to suppress it as best as she could, she had almost lost her temper at the older boy herself. His words had sparked an indignant fire inside of her and in her outrage she had nearly shouted a whole host of heated words right back at him. It was only the thought of the mission that had kept her from confronting the ink user – not only had she felt fiercely protective of Naruto after Sai's casual insults towards the blonde boy's best friend, she was also disgruntled by his attitude to someone he had never even met. What gave him the right to talk about Sasuke as though he knew him? Though Hinata couldn't condone the Sharingan wielder's actions, she trusted the judgement of both Naruto and Sakura and more to the point she was a firm believer that Konoha shinobi did not give up on each other, no matter what. To hear otherwise was almost like a personal affront for her.

As Hinata tried to force back her indignation as best as she could, Naruto was lost within his painful memories of Sasuke; training together in the tree climbing exercise, seeing him left helpless and drained by the cursed seal mark against the partially transformed Gaara, and, of course, the fight at the Valley of the End where he just hadn't been strong enough to break through to the Uchiha clan member. As other, more trivial memories all blurred into one another – first their days at the Academy where Sasuke had been number one and he'd been the 'dead last,' then eating with Sakura and Kakashi at Ichiraku's as a team, then the times when Kakashi would turn up late and Sasuke would just hide his annoyance with an impatient, "Hmph!" – Sakura's voice brought him back to the present. "Hinata's right," she said quietly, her hand still blocking Naruto's way to Sai. "If we want to succeed in our mission, teamwork is vital."

Naruto looked at her, surprise written all over his face, and from what he could tell Hinata looked equally astonished. Although he had calmed down now he was sure as Hell not just going to stand by and do nothing if any of his friends were insulted. Was Sakura really going to let Sai talk about Sasuke like that?

"Ano, Sakura-san, are you sure…?" Hinata asked nervously, letting the question hang in the air. Although she didn't want any more confrontations she had felt sure that Sakura would have been furious at hearing such damning words spoken about the boy she cared about. "After what he said about Sasuke-san…"

To the Hyuuga girl's surprise, Sakura didn't respond, instead turning to face the pale skinned boy. "Sai, Naruto said too much," she began in a controlled, calm, voice. "Please, he doesn't know you that well… Will you forgive him?"

Hinata shared a confused glance with Naruto, not sure what to make of the pink haired girl's uncharacteristically submissive reply. Was she just swallowing her pride to extend an olive branch to Sai, for the good of the mission?

Yamato, who had been watching on silently, let out a sigh of relief. "Well, I'm glad to see that _someone_ is going to take responsibility here," he said, shooting a pointed glance in Naruto's direction.

Sai scrutinised Sakura carefully as she stood waiting for an answer, taking in her body language. After a second or two of deliberation he smiled, closing his eyes cheerfully. "Of course, think nothing of it."

"Thank you," Sakura smiled back at him, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes… And then, with a grunt of aggression, she let loose a bone shattering punch to Sai's chin with so much force behind it that he was sent sprawling through the air, landing painfully on his side.

Yamato made a noise that sounded halfway between a gasp and a cough, staring at Sakura with open amazement, as Naruto's jaw dropped and Hinata let out a squeak of surprise at Sakura's sudden display of force.

'_Damn…'_ Naruto thought faintly, gazing at Sakura with a combination of respect and the slightest tinge of fear. _'Sakura-chan really knows how to throw a punch…'_ Even from a distance he could see that Sai's chin had a noticeable bruise already, the purple colour contrasting angrily with the surrounding pale skin.

Picking himself up from the ground gingerly, Sai rubbed his chin carefully, not saying a word. Glaring darkly at him, her fist still extended, Sakura spoke in a low voice. "But on the other hand, you don't have to forgive _me_."

"You totally fooled me…" said Sai, sounding slightly dazed. "That smile of yours…"

Sakura straightened, cracking her knuckles. "_Don't_ speak about things you're ignorant of!" she hissed venomously, emerald green eyes flashing dangerously. "You don't know _anything_ about Sasuke-kun! If you bad mouth him one more time I won't hold back!"

"Ok then," answered Sai mildly, seemingly unconcerned by Sakura's threat. "I'll make sure not to say anything like that in front of you again." He paused momentarily, his face unreadable, as he met Sakura's gaze steadily before allowing his lips to reveal a small, admiring smile. "But that expression of yours just before you hit me wasn't real, was it?" Sakura didn't respond, her face stony. Unperturbed, Sai picked himself up off the ground and dusted himself off. "So… you know how to use a fake smile too…" he murmured, almost to himself. "I'll remember that…"

Naruto's eyebrows knotted with confusion at the pale skinned teen's nonchalant attitude to being floored by Sakura. "Why the Hell are you still grinning like that?" Naruto asked, the previous fury he had felt now replaced by bewilderment at his new teammate's lack of anything resembling anger. "You've just been attacked – didn't that hurt? Aren't you… y'know, mad?"

Sai glanced sidelong at Naruto and his smile changed slightly, becoming a more natural looking smirk; in fact, if Naruto didn't know any better he could've sworn that it seemed almost sly, as though the ink user was letting them all in on a big secret. "A smile is the best way to get out of trouble," said the artistic ninja seriously. "Even if it's fake, amazingly it can still fool everyone… I read that in a book once." Gauging the less than thrilled reactions to his statement from his teammates he shrugged his shoulders. "It doesn't seem to be working quite so well in this situation though."

Naruto, Hinata and Sakura all shared a glance at his additional comment. Hinata frowned slightly, feeling even less disposed to fully accepting their new teammate than before. He had practically admitted that he was using his facial expression as a means to deceive them all. For the first time, Hinata wondered whether Sai had an ulterior motive for coming on this mission. With her naturally forgiving nature she didn't want to think the worst about anyone, especially her new teammate, but after listening to him insult Sasuke so openly she couldn't help but worry about just how dedicated he was to their mission. Coupled with that little speech about avoiding trouble with his smile, which made her wonder just how much experience he had at disguising his true thoughts and emotions, Hinata was beginning to feel slightly uneasy.

However, her mild suspicions were pushed to the back of her mind as she saw a disapproving Yamato make some quick hand seals and cry, **"Mokuton: Shichuurou no Jutsu!"**

Immediately the ground began to rumble and out of it burst multiple thick, wooden poles which converged and grew straight upwards, forming a wall. Hinata took a step back, caught by surprise as she realised that the wooden beams were surrounding herself, Naruto, Sakura and Sai from every angle, penning them in, and sure enough the timbered posts formed what seemed to be a large, wooden box, trapping them all inside.

As the jutsu ended, creating a roof above their head that blocked out most of the light and plunged them all into a state of gloomy semi-darkness, Hinata could just about see Sakura walk slowly over to the wall and begin cautiously tapping the wooden posts that were keeping them from escaping and began mumbling to herself. "It can't be…" she murmured, forehead furrowed. "This wood… this is the Shodaime Hokage's one of a kind Mokuton ninjutsu, I'm sure of it… But then how can Yamato-taichou use it as well?"

As Sakura trailed off, seemingly mystified by their new squad leader's abilities, Naruto groped around in the dark for the wall as well. "Oi, Yamato-taichou, what's the big idea?" he yelled, banging his fist against the wooden surface. "You can't just trap us in here like this!"

From the other side of their wooden prison Hinata heard Yamato let out a sigh. "Until you four learn to get along then I'll just have to force you. We don't have time to put up with any more bickering between you. We have less than a week to get to the Tenchi Bridge, and although that's plenty of time I still want to see a vastly improved attitude from all of you. Is that clear?"

Taking the silence of the four ninja inside the cage as a sign of consent, Yamato released the jutsu and the wooden beams retracted with a creaking sound, twisting and shrinking before disappearing back underground in a matter of seconds. He tried to gauge their respective reactions to being released; Sai appeared disinterested, as though he had already known what the outcome of that little experiment would be, Sakura was glancing at him strangely and eyeing up the spots where the wood had sprung up from, Hinata was listening attentively, biting her bottom lip as she did so, and Naruto was scowling mutinously at being trapped in the first place. Yamato sighed inwardly. _'Nothing like a captive audience…'_ he thought to himself.

Smiling wryly at his small joke, Yamato clapped his hands together to grab their attention. "Ok, here's my proposition for you all," announced the ANBU member, face to face with his listeners this time. "I'm going to give you two choices. You can either stay inside that wooden cage overnight, or for as long as it takes for you to sort your differences, _or_ –" he held up a hand to halt Naruto's protests as the orange clad boy opened his mouth to vehemently argue "– we can stay in a nearby hotel that I know about and relax in the hot springs there. So what'll it be?" Having set his ultimatum, Yamato leaned in closer and continued in a voice that was barely above a whisper. "I'd rather be nice and friendly about this little issue to try and create a strong, supportive team environment, but I don't have any problems ruling by fear. Remember, none of you guys really know me that well…"

His looming face and intimidating tone of voice made Hinata and Sakura both take a hurried step backwards, spooked by his threatening visage, and Naruto had to force back a shiver. _'Man, his eyes are seriously creepy!'_ he thought to himself apprehensively. _'He really wasn't kidding with that whole thing about ruling with fear.' _He could feel his stomach clench involuntarily and in his experience that was never a good sign – Naruto always trusted his gut instinct and right now it was telling him to be very, very careful around Kakashi's temporary replacement.

Mustering up the nerve to speak on behalf of Hinata and Sakura, who had both edged even further from Yamato, he mumbled, "Erm… yeah, the hot springs sound good," in a rather feeble voice, trying not to look directly into Yamato's bulging eyes.

"Excellent," Yamato smiled, his ominous expression clearing to be replaced by one of satisfaction. "Now, let's get moving – if we want to reach the hotel before sundown then we've got a lot of ground to cover. And you know that I wouldn't want us to be… _late_."

Breaking out into a cold sweat, Naruto began walking quickly to the front of the group, a nervous grin on his face. "S-Sure thing Yamato-taichou, w-whatever you say."

Yamato nodded with approval at Naruto's newfound 'enthusiasm' and the blonde haired boy let out a sigh of relief, trying to keep his cool as the group set off again. Though Sai's scornfully muttered, "Spineless _and_ Dickless," was almost more than he could take.

-o-o-

Sitting in the male section of the hot springs, Naruto submerged his head underwater for a few seconds before resurfacing, wiping water from his eyes. Shaking his head from side to side, sending stray water droplets flying in every direction from his spiky hair, Naruto smiled sleepily, allowing his eyelids to close, and sat back, basking in the steamy warmth of the bath and trying to relax as best as he could.

"Ah, there's nothing like a group of guys sitting naked together in a hot spring!"

Though the forcible reminder of the company he was keeping was making any hope of relaxation seem very, very unlikely.

Opening his eyes and suppressing a groan, Naruto turned to the left, where the jovial voice had come from, to see Yamato leaning back against the side of the stone wall with his arms spread wide, glancing at him expectantly. Naruto didn't respond, instead glancing out of the corner of his eye to the right, where Sai was sitting comfortably with only his head visible above the surface of the water.

The ANBU member coughed discreetly to try and attract Naruto's attention once more, and continued, "Yes, a hot spring really is the best place for men to bond with one another. It creates a feeling of true comradeship, no doubt about it!" As the blonde teenager didn't respond once again, still staring at Sai, Yamato frowned and dropped his voice to a whisper, leaning in so that he was only an inch or two from Naruto's face. "Wouldn't you agree, Naruto?"

The spiky haired ninja yelped, startled, and recoiled sharply at having Yamato so close to him. Regaining his composure, he stood up and laughed nervously. "Y-Yeah, like you said, no doubt about it."

As Yamato accepted Naruto's answer with a nod, causing the Jinchuuriki boy to let out a sigh of relief, Sai cocked his head to the side slightly and spoke up for the first time. "Oh, look," he smiled pleasantly, glancing down at Naruto's crotch. "I was wrong – it seems you do have one after all."

It took Naruto a moment or two to realise exactly where Sai was looking, but as he worked out the dark haired boy's line of sight his face turned bright red and he quickly submerged his body in the water again to try and hide his embarrassment. Face flushed with a mixture of mortification and anger, he shouted, "Will you shut the Hell up about my penis? Of course I damn well have one! And why were you even looking down there, anyway?"

Sai just smiled at him with infuriating calmness, only serving to wind Naruto up even more. Hearing the sound of tinkling laughter coming from over the fence in the female section of the bathhouse, evidently prompted by his outburst at Sai, Naruto let out a growl of frustration and lash out the surface of the water with his fist, only succeeding in splashing himself with water and humiliating himself even further.

"That's it, I've had enough," he grumbled sourly, shooting a dark glare at the ink user as he clambered out of the spring and grabbed a towel, rubbing himself dry. "I'm going back to the room."

Sai arched an eyebrow. "Did I say something wrong?" he asked mildly.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched as he forced back an angry retort. "No, of course not," he said sarcastically, towelling himself off with fast, jerky motions. "You _always_ know the right thing to say."

"Oh, that's good then," smiled Sai, completely oblivious to Naruto's sarcasm. "For a minute there I thought you were unhappy with me."

As Naruto let out a groan at Sai's total cluelessness, nearly pulling his hair out with frustration, Yamato spoke up too. "Are you sure you really want to leave so soon?" he questioned, sounding surprised. "This was meant to be a chance for us men to really get to know one another and we can't do that if you go off on your own. I'm sure Hinata and Sakura are making an effort to bond."

Naruto grinned at Yamato's last comment, thinking about how Jiraiya might have interpreted it. The perverted sage would probably have dashed over to find a gap in the fence at a speed that would have put Gaara's ultimate sand defence to shame, notebook in hand and a pair of binoculars glued to his face. Naruto's grin widened as he imagined Jiraiya's drooling, lustful expression – he had seen it on a regular basis on his travels with the white haired hermit whenever there was a pretty girl in the toad sage's near vicinity and he knew that it was as predictable as Tsunade's 'sake breaks' from her paperwork. Much to the Kyuubi container's constant annoyance Jiraiya would often go off and leave his student to train on his own with the excuse of 'researching' the bars, brothels and hot springs of the nearest town, but Naruto couldn't help but smile reminiscently at the memories of their journey together. For all his bad qualities, the womanising member of the Sannin was still an excellent teacher and a kind, good-hearted man.

However, thinking about Yamato's comment from Ero-Sennin's perspective caused Naruto to feel his face heat up. Hinata and Sakura. Naked. In a hot spring. Surrounded by other naked women. 'Bonding' with one another.

'… _Damn…'_ he thought faintly.

The blonde haired boy gulped as he heard another bout of giggling coming from over the fence and his treacherous mind went into overdrive; the gleaming, wet outlines of his female teammates, the tantalising steam, the –

Shaking his head forcefully, Naruto tried to get those thoughts out of his head before they were fully formed. Though he would never admit it to anyone, especially Ero-Sennin, he was now starting to see girls in a different light – well, he _was_ a teenaged guy after all, it wasn't his fault! – but he didn't want to end up like either of his teachers and thinking in this sort of way was a definite warning sign.

'_But just one small peek over the fence wouldn't hurt…'_ a wheedling voice whispered in the back of his head. _'You won't get caught, and it'll be worth it even if you do…'_

Caught in two minds, Naruto wavered uncertainly and tried to convince himself to do the honourable thing. _'The girls wouldn't want to have someone spying on them like that,'_ he told himself uneasily. _'I should probably respect their privacy…'_

As Naruto wondered whether it was normal to be arguing with himself inside his own head, his perverted side spoke up again. _'But think about how much Sakura-chan and Hinata-chan have grown over the years. They both seem much more… womanly now.'_

That thought was enough to make up Naruto's mind for him. With Sakura's exotic hair colouring and toned body coupled with Hinata's pearly eyes and smooth, pale skin – not to mention the memory of how good she had felt pressed up against him at the beginning of their journey back to Suna – the spiky haired boy gave into temptation.

'_Just one quick peek,'_ he told himself resolutely, trying to reason with his conscience. _'It's not that bad if it's only for a second or two, right?'_

Naruto could almost hear his responsible side huff with annoyance. _'This is a really bad idea.'_

'_Can it!'_ was Naruto's eloquent response as he finished drying himself and secured the towel around his waist. Grinning to himself he stealthily began heading towards the female-only section.

Noticing the direction Naruto was sneaking in, Yamato shook his head with a faint smile and called him back. "Ah, Naruto, before you go there's something interesting I'd like to tell you. Have you heard the story about the time Jiraiya-sama of the Sannin came closest to dying?"

"Ero-Sennin?" Naruto asked, momentarily distracted from his previous course of action. "No, he never told me anything like that. Was it on a mission or something? Or in a battle in the Great Ninja War?"

Yamato's lips twitched. "Not exactly. When he was younger, he was involved in a certain… incident. He fractured six ribs and both of his arms were broken… and that's not even mentioning the ruptured internal organs …"

Naruto's eyebrows shot up and he winced at the painful description. "Whoa, how did Ero-Sennin get beaten up so bad?"

Yamato coughed. "Apparently, he was the victim of Tsunade-sama's legendary strength. He made the mistake of spying on her whilst she was bathing in the female section of a hot spring… and it looks to me as though you're about to repeat his mistake." Seeing Naruto gulp and try to stammer a denial, the squad leader dropped his voice to a whisper. "So, tell me Naruto, if you do go through with your little scheme… how do you think Sakura will react?"

Naruto's face went deathly pale and he let out a whimper. _'Oh man, if Sakura-chan had seen me…'_ he thought to himself, aghast. He shivered, horrified at how close he'd been to becoming nothing more than a stain on one of the walls. Yamato was right; if there was any sure-fire method of getting on Sakura's bad side and provoking her jaw dropping strength, this was it.

Yamato fought back a smile at the ramen loving shinobi's reaction. "Well, I think I'll be getting out now as well," he said, stepping out of the water and grabbing a towel of his own. "If anyone needs me, I'll be back in the room." With a nod and a casual wave, the wood element user departed, whistling cheerfully.

Brooding on his thoughts, Naruto couldn't help but feel guilty about what he had almost done. He had only told Ayame that he wasn't a pervert yesterday and she and Hinata had both believed him. He felt an uncomfortable twinge in his stomach. He knew that Sakura would have beaten him to a pulp if she had found him spying on her, but what would Hinata have done if he'd betrayed her trust in him like that. He doubted that she would have gotten angry at him, but he suspected that she would have been very disappointed… and for some reason, that made him feel even worse than the idea of Sakura punching him from here to Suna.

"I think I will be getting out now too," Sai announced, distracting Naruto from his guilt-ridden reflections.

"Fine," Naruto muttered, not really concentrating. "See you later."

After a few seconds, noticing that Sai still hadn't left and was staring at him once again, Naruto narrowed his eyes. "What d'you want?" he asked sourly, glaring moodily back at the dark haired teen. "It'd better not be about…" the Kyuubi container flushed with embarrassment, before muttering, "Y'know, your stupid 'nickname' for me…"

Sai chuckled lightly. "Oh no, like I said before, I don't think you're dickless anymore." Naruto grunted, which was about as close to saying 'thank you' as he was going to get in the current circumstances. Oblivious to Naruto's hostility, the artistic ninja continued, "Actually, before Yamato-taichou persuaded you not to enter the girls' side, if anything your penis seemed a bit bigger; I could see it poking against your towel."

Naruto let out a strangled gasp of horror, his face as red as any blush Hinata could have mustered up, and if looks could kill Sai would have been dead several times over by now. Unaware of his teammate's humiliation, the pale skinned shinobi stepped out of the warm water and grabbed his own towel from the side, wrapping it around his waist and heading for the exit. Turning around, he left the steaming Naruto with one final parting shot. "Then again, I'm not sure of the average size of a full erection, so maybe you are small after al–"

"JUST GET THE HELL OUT!"

**Author's Notes:**Wow, this chapter may not be the most action packed instalment, but the amount of material packed into it is nothing short of incredible! As I was writing I wanted to find a place to stop naturally, but I just couldn't find one, so I kept going… and going… and I couldn't stop! Eventually I reached the hot springs scene, where I finally found a way to end the chapter without disrupting either the plot or my flow of thought. The ending took a bit of fiddling about with to get right, as I wasn't happy with it at first, but now it's probably one of my favourites! Hopefully you guys like it too! Strangely, considering all that I've managed to squeeze in here, the most important section of this chapter for me was the conversation with Kurenai at the beginning, because it shows Hinata's bonds with the rest of her team; one of the most frequent 'anti-Hinata' arguments I've come across is that 'she only focuses on Naruto,' which I don't think is true at all; she has been shown to have strong connections with her friends, mentors and family and I wanted to show this side of her character. Anyway, back to the conversation with Kurenai, it also clarifies Hinata's position a little bit, because one of the things I was most worried about when I began writing this story was how to include Hinata in Naruto's adventures whilst still being realistic and having her own team involved. So yeah, in short she's still a member of Team Eight, but she's gonna be a part of Naruto's squad on this mission and she'll still be involved in both canon events and Naruto's life. How? Heh, you'll have to wait and see… On a lighter note, the Konohamaru and Iruka scene was fun to write, especially the female clones bit, and Sai's obliviousness and one liners are just a never ending stream of hilariousness! To answer a question from Fairo Neko's review of the previous chapter, which in all honesty I really should have cleared up earlier to avoid any confusion, this fanfic is based primarily on the manga in terms of events that take place, not the anime, but I'm using any jutsu that have been in the anime for some extra (not to mention necessary in a fanfic as long as this one!) variety, thus explaining how Hinata can do the **Shugo Hakke Rokujuuyonshou** in this story despite it being introduced in a filler arc of the anime and not being 'canon,' per say. I probably should've addressed that earlier, sorry! So yeah, I think that's all I have to say for now, so thanks for reading and feel free to leave any comments, questions and criticism, as always. I'll get the next chapter to you all as fast as I can, bye!

**List of Jutsu:**

'**Oiroke no Jutsu'** **'Sexy Technique'**

'**Haaremu no Jutsu' =** **'Harem Technique'**

'**Mokuton: Shichuurou no Jutsu'** = **'Wood Release: Four Pillar Prison Technique'**

**Joke Corner:**** In Britain, military heroes are awarded the Victoria Cross. Military traitors are awarded the Double Cross.**


End file.
